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THE CHRISTIAN MAIDEN. 



t m 1 1 u I $ 



ELIZA HESSEL. 



She fought her doubts and gathered strength ; 

She -would not make her judgment blind ; 

She faced the specters of the mind 
And laid them : thus she came at length 
To find a stronger faith her own. 




^^ 



The Wharfe at Boston Spa. 



11W TOIMEs a&I&IM?<Q)38r <fe IP®IM?imo 



THE CHRISTIAN MAIDER 



Htnitorials 



ELIZA HESSEL 



By JOSHUA PRIESTLEY. 



"I saw her upon nearer view 

A spirit yet a woman too ! 

Her household motions light and free* 

And steps of virgin liberty; 

A countenance in which did meet 

Sweet records, promises as sweet; 

A creature not too bright or good 

For human nature's daily food; 

For transient sorrows, simple wiles, 

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.' 



SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED FROM THE SECOND LONDON EDITION. 



2fotD Work : 

PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 200 MTJLB EKR Y-8TREF.T. 

r/ & 51-1 



n \irt 



Sfi' 



©iff 

Judge and Mrs. Isaac R. Hftt 
JOiy 3, 1933 



PEE FAC E. 



The grounds on which this volume invites public 
attention may be stated in few words. Miss Hessel's 
history illustrates how a young woman, with only 
ordinary advantages, may effect great self-improve- 
ment, and diffuse a joyous and quickening influence in 
the social circle. By aiming earnestly at the cultiva- 
tion of all her powers, and the practical recognition 
of all her relationships, she exhibited a combination 
of excellences too generally dissociated. To the 
commonplace but important qualification for domes- 
tic duties, she added literary culture, and a character 
adorned with Christian virtues. " My model," said 
she, " is perfect in everything that comes within the 
sphere of a virtuous, intelligent, domestic woman ; so 
perfect that it is no easy matter to determine in what 
she most excels." To induce young women to adopt 
such a model, and to assist in its exemplification, is 
the object of the biographer. May the Divine Spirit 
employ this record to kindle in the hearts of many 



*> PREFACE. 

readers aspirations after higher virtues and greater 

usefulness than she attained. 

He cannot expect the concurrence of his readers in 
all the opinions expressed, or in approval of all the 
book-companionships indulged, He has not imitated 
those artists of the last century, who transferred to 
canvas their personification of a virtue, and then 
represented it as the portrait of some distinguished 
person. To furnish a true, and not simply a pleasing 
picture, has been his aim. 

Many thanks are due to the friends who placed 
their treasured letters at his disposal. The kindness 
which, in some instances, prompted the spontaneous 
transmission of such as related to matters purely pri- 
vate, in order that he might have a fuller knowledge* 
of the character of his subject, will not readily be 
forgotten. 

Donc aster, March 25, 1859. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Object of the Work — Miss Hessel's Mental and Moral Features 
— Local and Domestic Influences — Melton-Mowhray — At a 
Boarding-school in Leeds — Reminiscences of her School- 
days by a Fellow-pupil — Death of her eldest Sister — Noble 
Purposes Page 11 

CHAPTER IL 

At Bnrton-on-Trent — Lichfield Cathedral — Illness — Visits Scar- 
borough — Removal of the Family to Boston Spa — Death of 
her Father — Winters in the Isle of Wight — Scenery at Vent- 
nor — Carisbrook Castle and its intellectual Donkey — The 
Church of St. Lawrence — The Grave of the Dairyman's 
Daughter — A Word to scrawling Correspondents — London — 
Works of Fiction — A consolatory Thought for those bereaved 
of pious Friends — Further Eeminiscences by a Friend. .... 25 

CHAPTER III. 

Anxious for the Enjoyment of Eeligion — Experiences a clear Sense 
of God's pardoning Love — The Hinderances to the earlier Expe- 
rience of this Blessing — Eemarks on the Importance to the 
Young of a Religious Training 54 

CHAPTER IY. 

Spiritual Experience — The Eight View of Trials — The Sadness 
caused by a Review of a Misspent Life — The Colosseum in 
London — Marriage of her Brother — Life of Mrs. Sherman — 



\ , CONTENTS. 

Visits Bristol — Chatterton — "The Ocean" — Young's Night 
Thoughts — Bazar at Boston Spa — Mrs. Stowe — Thoughts 
suggested by a Eainbow — Humiliating Acknowledgements — ■ 
Thankfulness — Intellectual Pride — The Seventh Vial — Moral 
Evil — The Importance of spending Life well Page 71 



CHAPTER V. 

Doubts the Wisdom of recording her Eeligious Emotions — Samuel 
Taylor Coleridge — Communion with Nature — Thoughts in a 
Cemetery — Cheever's Voices of Nature — Goethe — The Battle 
of Life — John Poster — Thoughts on Heaven — Life of Mrs. Jud- 
son — Charlotte Elizabeth — A Sonnet — An Invocation. . . 112 



CHAPTER VI. 

One of the remarkable Features of the Bible — J. B. Gough — 
Valuable Lessons learned from Annoyances — Longfellow — 
-Misinterpretations of Providence — Southey's Life of Cowper 
— Alexander Smith's Life Drama — John Howe's Eemark 
on Pantheism — Nature an Educational Agent— The Min- 
istering Angel 144 



CHAPTER VII. 

Life of Dr. Chalmers — Eev. Gervase Smith — Bazar at Eccles- 
hill — Her Model of a Woman — How hidden Strength is brought 
out — An Incident turned to good Account — An interesting 
Italian — Phases of Inner Life — The Employments of Heaven 

— War — Perils of her early Mental History — Female Authors 

— A Spiritual Anodyne — Nearness to Christ— Talfourd's Me ■ 
morials of Charles Lamb — An affectionate Appeal to an uncon- 
verted Friend , . . 165 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A social Piotnre — Coleridge's Aids to Eeflection — Martin's Last 
Judgment and other Paintings — Letter to a Friend on reaching 
his Majority — National Sins — Coleridge's Ancient Mariner — 



CONTEXTS. . 9 

Eeason, Faith, and Unbelief — Bigg's Night and the Soul — 
On the Condition of Disembodied Spirits — Death of her Uncle 
Campbell — Kev. B. Gregory — Joy amid Sorrow — Dr. Chan- 
ning — Gay Parties — Vinet's Gospel Studies Page 194 



CHAPTER IX. 

Thoughts on her Sainted Brother — Her Views of Duty not coin- 
cident with those of some of her Friends — Increasing Love for 
the Bible — Thomas Carlyle — The Duty of Christians in rela- 
tion to the morally degraded — Counsels to a recent Convert — 
A valuable Sentiment from Coleridge — A Soliloquy — A Scrap 
of Mental History — The Eclipse of Faith — Spiritual Ego- 
tism — Happy Toil — Illness of her Cousin at Howden — Ano- 
ther Scrap of Mental History — Her Cousin's Death — Life 
under a New Phase — Visit to Congleton — Dr. Kitto — The 
Leper '. 228 



CHAPTER X. 

Her Views on a Vital Christian Doctrine temporarily unsettled — 
The Benefit to be secured from the Little Things of Daily Life 

— Christian Liberty — The triple Nobility of Nature, Culture, 
and Faith — Importance of an Habitual Eecognition of God — 

. John Sterling — Her Brother's Decision to embark for Australia 

— Glimpses of the Grand Possibilities of our Being — Departure 
of her Brother — The Duty of cultivating a Thankful Spirit — 
The Privileges supplied by Trials — Emerson's English Traits 

— The Jehovah- Angel — American Writers of Fiction — Scanty 
Aids for Self-Improvement 270 

CHAPTER XL 

A valuable Eemark of Perthes' — The Study of the Bible — The 
Intermediate State — Spiritual Experiences — Failing Health — 
Life of Hewitson — Will there be Error in Heaven — No Dis- 
grace in Industry — The Preciousness of the Simple Truths of 
the Gospel in Sickness — The Duration of Future Punishment 

— Eeligion a Priceless Treasure — Visits Bradford, Birkenshaw, 
and Scarborough — Application of a Precious Promise — A Ee- 
markable Manifestation — A Dreadful §torm — A Praver. . . 298 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Woman's Influence — Hints on the Ideal of a True Woman — An- 
imadversions on the Prevalent Training of Young Women — 
Miss Hessel's increasing Debility — Last Letters to her Friends 
— Self-Reproach — Miss S. E.'s Interviews — Spiritual Experi- 
ences — Death Page S31 



MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 



CHAPTER I. 



Object of the Work — Miss Hessel's mental and moral Features — 
Local and domestic Influences — Melton-Mow bray — At a Board- 
ing-school in Leeds — Keminiscences of her School-days by a 
Fellow-pupil — Death of her eldest Sister — Noble Purposes. 

The writer first became acquainted with the subject 
of this memoir in November 1838. The occasion 
was one of mournful interest. Death had invaded 
her father's house, and smitten the first-born — her be- 
loved and highly-gifted brother John. She was then 
but nine years old, having been born on April 10th, 
1829. Circumstances prevented the renewal of ac- 
quaintance till the summer of 1855. The girl had 
now become a tall, well-proportioned woman. Her 
features identified her as the sister of his lamented 
friend, and it required little intercourse to satisfy him 
that there were other than physical resemblances. 
An elevation of sentiment, a refinement of taste, and 
a copiousness of choice language, distinguished her. 
To these were added a charming frankness. Rumor 
had pronounced her gifted, but personal acquaintance 
convinced him "the half had not been told." 



12 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 

The intercourse thus renewed was not likely speed- 
ily to terminate. In the following spring she resided 
for nearly four weeks under his roof, and thus oppor- 
tunity was afforded for intimate acquaintance. His 
first impressions were amply confirmed. Amiability, 
disinterestedness, generosity, and artlessness were 
eminently conspicuous, and her aptitude for domestic 
duties indicated the just views she entertained of their 
relation to social comfort. 

The design of this book, however, is not to erect a 
monument to the departed, much less to magnify her 
virtues, but to furnish such a record of her character, 
aspirations, and attainments, as may animate our 
daughters to aspire to excellences which will qualify 
them to adorn and bless the world. Miss Hessel's 
chief excellences were such as lie within the reach of 
all. She owed much, doubtless, to original endow- 
ment, but more to self-culture. Few educated per- 
sons were less indebted to preceptors. In common 
with most young people she was the subject of fool- 
ish notions and injudicious habits. Happily, as she 
approached womanhood, she discovered and endeav- 
ored to remedy them. Soliciting divine assistance, 
she resolutely determined to attain the nobility of a 
true woman, and she succeeded. It would have re- 
quired a sagacity more than ordinary to discern the 
woman of five and twenty in the girl of fifteen. 

The man of science can analyze the ingredients en- 
tering into the composition of a plant, but where is 
the moral chemist who shall tell us all that has con- 
tributed to the formation of any human character? 



YOUTHFUL CHARACTEPaSTICS. 13 

Facts are not wanting, however, to enable us to form 
a sufficiently accurate estimate of the influences opera- 
ting upon Miss Hessel's youth, and the peculiarities 
of her mental and moral nature. 

Her reflective powers were early developed. Often 
might she have been seen wandering in the neighbor- 
ing lane wrapt in deep thought. What could those 
bright objects be above which we called stars'? How 
. could the Almighty always have existed ? Why was 
evil permitted, and why, in particular, were so many 
vexations allowed to cross her path? How could 
the permission of such facts accord with infinite be- 
nevolence? These were some of the questions which 
taxed and troubled that young brain. As a natural 
consequence she eagerly thirsted after knowledge. 
Unfortunately she had access to but few suitable 
books. Had she been supplied at this period with a 
literature adapted to her requirements, the growth of 
her powers would no doubt have been materially pro- 
moted. A large social as well as personal benefit would 
be conferred, if those who have interesting and instruct- 
ive books lying useless on their shelves would send 
them on a temporary visit to young persons similarly 
circumstanced to Eliza Hessel. 

Inquisitiveness was associated with intense suscepti- 
bility. The sigh of the storm she regarded as celes- 
tial music. As her slender form staggered under its 
violence, she would exultingly repeat: 

" ! I love the winds when they spurn control, 
For they suit my own bond-hating soul ; 
I like to hear them sweeping past, 
Like the eagle's pinions, free and fast; 



14 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL 

But a pang will rise with sad alloy, 
To soften my spring and sink my joy, 
When I think how dismal their voices must be 
To a mother who hath a child at sea 1" 

It cannot surprise us that her broodings often stirred 
the profoundest depths of her soul. Judge of a girl 
of sixteen pacing the long garden walks in the cold 
moonlight, sitting down on the ground, and clasping 
her hands, uttering in a voice of such passionate earn- 
estness as even startled herself: "I would gladly 
die this moment to solve that problem." That girl 
could be no cipher in the world. She could be no 
mere unit. For good or evil, she was destined to 
exert considerable influence. 

Her love for poetry, for flowers, for everything 
beautiful in nature or in art, amounted to a passion. 

Of course the books she read left deep traces on 
her mind. With a retentive memory, and a vivid 
imagination, she became almost a reflection of the 
writers she loved. It was easy, at that period, to 
discover her literary companionships. 

One illustration of her high spirit is well remem- 
bered. She was a pupil, and not beyond her eighth 
year. In the master's temporary absence one day 
some occurrence had transpired which kindled his dis- 
pleasure. He deemed Eliza's younger sister to be 
chief culprit, and ordered her into the " naughty cor- 
ner." Eliza, knowing her sister's innocence, rose from 
her seat, marched boldly forth, brought away the vic- 
tim, and with defiant majesty exclaimed: "My sister 
shall not be put into the corner." Acquiescence, 
however unmagisterial, was deemed prudent. 



YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCES. 15 

Her sensitive nature could not fail, under ordinary 
circumstances, to secure exquisite enjoyment; neither 
could it fail to induce occasional despondency. She 
was no exception to the doctrine set forth in Burns's 
well-known lines: 

" Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure, 
Thrill with deepest notes of woe." 

A glance at that pale countenance was enough to sat- 
isfy any intelligent observer that the activity of the 
brain was morbid. For many nights in succession 
sleep refused its visit for hours after her retirement. 
Instead of acting as a check to the pernicious practice 
of late study, this unhappily promoted it. Eapid 
growth contributed to physical debility, and caused 
her to suffer much from tiodouloureux at one period, 
while the remedy employed was almost as mischiev- 
ous as the disease, from the nervous irritability which 
it caused. As a natural consequence many occur- 
rences, domestic and providential, wore a chilling and 
gloomy aspect. Mentioning, later in life, some un- 
welcome experiences of which she was then the sub- 
ject, she says to Mrs. W. : 

"All this may seem very strange to you, but it 
would not if you could read my mental history ; if 
you knew what formed and educated my childhood — 
the utter want of companionship I experienced — the 
delicate and sickly form, which for many years was 
the tabernacle of a shrinking, sensitive spirit, whose 
aliment was the sublime but mysterious images of 
revelation, the allegories of Bunyan, and such poetry 
and fiction as came in its path. I spoke of want of 



16 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 

companionship ; but mine was with the deep woods, 
or beside a lonely pond under a large ash tree, whose 
music, as the wind swept it, I can now recall ; shunned 
by and shunning those of my own age, whose kindness 
was almost as offensive to me as their ridicule or 
contempt. At an age when most children are revel- 
ing in the sunshine of their own joyous natures, I was 
revolving in my unnaturally excited and fevered 
mind such themes as the existence of God, the 
strange enigma of my own being and destiny, and 
sometimes, I could weep to remember it, whispering 
in the depths of my dark heart, ' There is no God.' 
And when the fearful lie was returned to me I added, 
* But he cannot be just and good, or he would not 
see me suffering and oppressed without avenging 
me.' " 

It must be confessed that her parents had an oner- 
ous charge. And yet it was a highly interesting one. 
One of the most interesting spectacles on earth is 
that of a mind in a state like hers — full of deep ques- 
tionings and lofty aspirations — eager after truth, but 
unwilling to accept it without scrutiny. Should not 
such minds excite our deep sympathy ? Should not 
their inquiries be judiciously excited, rather than 
frowningly repressed ? Should not we, who are 
parents, encourage our children to confide to us the 
strange perplexing thoughts which often haunt them, 
but which they shrink from disclosing? Who can 
estimate the number of melancholy moral wrecks 
occasioned by the chilling repulses with which sin- 
cere, though adventurous, inquirers have been met] 
I do not wonder that immediately after the paragraph 



LOCAL INFLUENCES. ■ 17 

just quoted, Miss Hessel should have added : " Since 
I have grown up I had always an interne sympathy 
with Byron's childhood." It makes one almost trem- 
ble to think what might have been the issue had she 
been similarly treated. It is not without solicitude 
one asks : What will the issue be 1 Shall those men- 
tal and moral materials be one day formed into a 
noble structure, or shall they become a misshapen 
and repulsive mass 1 Hope pronounces favorably, 
and faith indorses the reply. 

The circumstances amid which she was placed 
were on the whole highly favorable. Retirement 
was essential to the right formation of her character. 
Catterton, her birthplace, furnished it. It is a small 
hamlet, lying at the distance of three miles north of 
Tadcaster, consisting of ten or tw r elve houses, four 
of which were occupied by laborers. The society of 
such a place presented nothing of peril to her nature. 
Additional stimulus to her social powers would un- 
doubtedly have been beneficial, physically and men- 
tally. Many an hour of gloom would have been 
exchanged for sunshine. But the evil of town-resi- 
dence to most young persons is, that the social facul- 
ties are stimulated to excess. Hence, the dissipation 
and frivolity which so generally prevail, and which 
cannot be sufficiently lamented. Would she not, 
however, in the event of such a residence, have been 
spared those perplexing doubts, that long mental 
disquietude 1 Probably she would, but the benefit 
of that may be justly doubted. The discipline 
through which she passed every person must more or 
less experience who would have a faith alike intelli- 



18 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 

gent and firm. Truly is it said by the biographer 
of the late Rev. John Smith : " No one was ever dis- 
tinguished, except by successful engagement with 
difficulty." Anything that would have prevented her 
from prosecuting those inquiries would have been a 
calamity rather than a benefit. The doubts and 
perplexities of a truth-seeker are the stimulants 
wisely provided to increase mental vigor as well as 
secure joyous and abiding satisfaction. Had Miss 
Hess el resided in a town she would have been the life 
of many a gay circle, but would not have been the 
well-informed and useful woman she became. 

Powerful as are the influences of society in mould- 
ing youthful character, those operating silently and 
unconsciously in the domestic circle are still more so. 
What, then, was the moral atmosphere she breathed 
at home? One fact will be a sufficient answer. 
The whole five children, two sons and three daugh- 
ters, became truly pious. Both the sons were called 
to the Christian ministry. The elder went down 
to his grave at twenty-four, lamented by many, to 
some of whom he had been a blesssing ; and the sur- 
vivor, the Rev. William Hessel, is at present occu- 
pying one of the most important positions in the 
Wesley an Church in Australia. 

Her father, Benjamin Hessel, was a man of strong 
mind and sterling moral excellence, a worthy de- 
scendant of ancestors who had occupied a farm at 
Althorp, in the neighborhood of Howden, for about 
five hundred years. Her mother, Hannah Hessel, 
was a genuine Christian, born of parents who bravely 
shared the reproach which assailed the early Meth 



DOMESTIC INFLUENCES. 19 

odists. To her pious example and fervent prayers 
all her children feel an incalculable obligation. 
Their youthful hearts were drawn to seek the Lord 
in a voluntary gathering for prayer on a Sunday 
afternoon. From her infancy Miss Hessel was the 
subject of the strivings of the Spirit. " Happy par- 
ents," some mother may be prompted to exclaim, 
" to possess such children." " Happy children," with 
no less appropriateness it may be said, " to possess 
such a mother." 

In August, ] 842, an interesting domestic occurrence 
transpired, which exercised a potent influence on 
Miss Hessel. Her eldest sister, Mary Ann, became 
the wife of the Eev. Thomas Brum well, a Wesley an 
minister. To her great joy it was arranged that she 
should spend a few months with the wedded pair at 
Melton-Mowbray. She now fairly entered upon so- 
cial life, and her open-heartedness, and rapidly unfold- 
ing mental powers, won for her warm attachments. 
Besides the books in the possession of her friends, 
many of which w 7 ere new to her, of course she had 
access to her brother's library, and the famishing man 
does not devour his food with greater eagerness than 
that with which many of them were devoured. Neither 
the quantity nor the quality of her reading, however, 
was judicious. She had soon great reason to regret 
having spurned the good counsel she was offered. 

The following extract is inserted in the hope that 
some juvenile readers may profit by her experience. 
On reviewing this period, only three years subse- 
quently, she says : " I have sat poring over works of 
history, and more frequently of fiction, till my aching 
2 



20 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 

eyeballs have refused their office; the solemn tones 
of the midnight bell, and occasionally the light chimes 
of the third hour of morning have warned me to my 
little couch, while strange visions of enchanted cas- 
tles, rocking images, ominous sounds, and wild appa- 
ritions, have disturbed my feverish repose, and unfitted 
me for the active duties of life. 0! these are pain- 
ful reminiscences" 

She remained at Melton-Mowbray about ten 
months, and after having benefited by the educational 
advantages Tadcaster afforded, entered a boarding- 
school at Leeds in January 1845. This constituted 
an interesting and important era in her history. 

At the Miss Binders' establishment Eliza was 
brought into contact with several kindred spirits. 
With one of them a correspondence was afterward 
commenced, which was sustained to the close of life. 
More than a hundred and fifty letters were ex- 
changed, and to some of these this volume will owe 
a large portion of whatever interest or value it may 
possess. 

At the biographers request that lady has kindly 
recorded her recollections of her friend. The portion 
which relates to Eliza's school-days at Leeds shall be 
here supplied: "My acquaintance with my beloved 
friend commenced when she was about fifteen. I 
remember distinctly the morning she ' was intro- 
duced into the school-room. Little did I then think 
what an influence the new comer would acquire over 
my own mind and heart. She was shy and reserved 
at first, but susceptible of any advance toward friend- 
liness, and eager to reciprocate the least kindness. It 



REMINISCENCES BY A FRIEND. 21 

was not long before her position among us became 
clearly defined. Being one of the tallest girls, a de- 
gree of freedom was at once awarded her, but her 
mind soon asserted a superior claim. She was a 
most earnest and successful student, and it became a 
privilege to be admitted into her little coterie of inquir- 
ers after knowledge. At her suggestion, three or four 
of us rose at five o'clock every morning, and met in 
the library to read. The books chosen were generally 
such as aided in our after studies. Sometimes they 
yielded more pleasure than profit, but the recollection 
of those morning meetings is very pleasant. During 
our walks,- too, we read together; or, when books 
were forbidden, Eliza was never at a loss for some 
topic of discussion. A flower, or an insect, often 
supplied us with a theme. Anything in nature called 
forth her deepest sympathies, and made her eloquent. 
She has told me what a wild delight she used to feel, 
when a mere child, amid the scenes of nature, ram- 
bling at her own sweet will for hours together, with 
no companions but the bee and butterfly. This love 
of the beautiful became more intense as she grew 
older, and you will not wonder that she had also a 
decided tinge of the romantic at this time. Her 
young muse sung of deeds of daring and the achieve- 
ments of fame. She bowed at the shrine of genius, 
and made it almost her god. But afterward, when 
she had consecrated her tastes and talents to her 
Saviour, they took a higher mould. Wherever beauty 
was, she saw the loving impress of her heavenly 
Father. Genius seemed to her but an emanation 
from the Eternal mind; and, instead of exhausting 



22 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 

her sympathies on imaginary woes, she began right 
earnestly to search out, and try to alleviate, the actual 
sufferings around her. 

"But to return to her school-days. Her studies 
were a great pleasure to her. She had a right ambi- 
tion to excel, not outshine; and all agreed that the 
commendation given her was her due. As her mind 
developed, and the field of knowledge opened before 
her, she has often told me of undefined longings to 
grasp all — a feeling of impatience with the slow pro- 
cess of acquisition — a feeling that the inlets to the 
mind were inadequate to satisfy her mental thirst. 
Her compositions were both easy and graceful, unlike 
the usually crabbed style of a school-girl. When our 
monthly budget w T as opened, and our anonymous 
maiden efforts read, you might see a smile of recogni- 
tion pass around the school-room, as Eliza's pieces 
betrayed their authorship at once. 

None were more gay and frolicsome. She entered 
w r ith zest into our merriest fun, indeed, was often the 
promoter of it. She had an under current of genial 
humor, and a quickness of repartee that never failed 
her. 

"As to her religious thoughts and feelings at this 
time I know little. I was not then admitted into her 
confidence. Her seniority caused a distance between 
us as school-girls which was entirely forgotten in our 
after friendship. But from her own confession she 
was then a formalist, attending to the ritual of wor- 
ship, but lacking the Shekinah in the inner temple. 
Her religious training had familiarized the Scriptures 
to her, and she unwittingly acquired a habit, which 



AN IMPORTANT LESSON LEARNED. 23 

she often afterward deplored, of quoting Scripture in 
common parlance, almost, if not quite, irreverently — 
a pernicious habit, alas ! too common." 

It does not surprise us that Eliza should have been 
thus regarded by her schoolmates, nor that she 
should have rapidly improved, when we learn with 
what views she entered^ upon her duties — privileges, 
they ought rather to be designated. In an early let- 
ter to the friend whose reminiscences have just been 
furnished, she says : " I w T ill tell you, dear Sarah, 
what were my reflections the first day I was at school. 
In the evening I sat down and asked myself, 'What 
have I learned to-day]' The answer my heart gave 
somewhat startled me. It was this: 'I have to-day 
learned the most important lesson I ever did learn, 
that is, that I know nothing at all.' It was not the 
impulse of the moment; it was the result of calm, 
deliberate thought. I really felt as though I had been 
living for nothing. There appeared such a wide field 
of knowledge before me, that, as it opened on my 
view, I started and exclaimed: 'Why did I never 
know this before? I have long enough thought I pos- 
sessed as much knowledge as most people of my age 
and station, but now I find that everything I have 
learned is like nothing compared with what I yet have 
to learn.' " 

While Miss Hessel was basking under sunny in- 
fluences at Leeds, a dark cloud was gathering on the 
domestic horizon. Consumption had seized her sis- 
ter, Mrs. Brumwell, and she came to Catterton for 
the benefit of native air. Fatal symptoms, alas ! were 



24 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 

rapidly developed, and of course the pupil was sum- 
moned to the dying bed. In the composure and joy 
experienced by her sister, she saw the wondrous 
power and blessedness of religion. "Victory, vic- 
tory, through the blood of the Lamb," were the words 
with which that much-loved relative winged her way 
to a happier clime on May ^24. She had appealed 
powerfully to Eliza to follow her to heaven, and ob- 
tained a promise to that effect. A stronger element 
of seriousness henceforth imbued her character. 

Such were the mental and moral features Eliza 
Hessel exhibited in youth, and such were the general 
influences that moulded those features into the form 
it is the object of this volume to portray. 

This brief half-year completed her scholastic privi- 
leges. She was now sixteen, and it was deemed 
needful she should enter upon the practical duties of 
life. She had no notion, however, of her education 
terminating with her attendance at the school. In the 
letter just quoted from she says: "I am endeavoring, 
in this rural retreat, to gain something every day. 
Though it be a little only, it is better than nothing, 
or, what is still worse, retrograding. l Onward ' is 
my watchword, and ' Nothing is denied to well-directed 
diligence' is my motto." Noble girl ! with such views 
and purposes, could she do otherwise than succeed? 



AT BURTOX-ON-TRENT. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

At Burton-on-Trent — Lichfield Cathedral — Illness — Visits Scar- 
borough — Eemoval of the Family to Boston Spa — Death of 
her Father — Winters in the Isle of Wight — Scenery at Vent- 
nor — Carisbrook Castle and its intellectual Donkey — The 
Church of St. Lawrence — The Grave ,of the Dairyman's 
Daughter — A Word to scrawling Correspondents — London — 
Works of Fiction — A consolatory Thought for those bereaved 
of pious Friends — Further Reminiscences by a Friend. 

Her brother-in-law was left in charge of an interest- 
ing legacy. Two motherless boys, one only seven 
months old, and the other but two years, required no 
small care. Young as Miss Hessel was, however, it 
was deemed desirable to commit them to her trust. 
He now resided at Burton-on-Trent, and thither, 
therefore, early in 1846, she repaired. With com- 
mendable assiduity, and an efficiency surpassing ex- 
pectation, she entered on her new engagements. 
Though she had made no secret of her repugnance to 
domestic duties, the dawnings of " a horror of undo- 
mesticated literary women" were already felt. A 
desire to excel in this as in other departments was 
soon manifested, and, as in most previously untried 
things, she had an almost intuitive perception of the 
right course to be pursued. 

Shortly after entering her new sphere she wisely 
yielded to the promptings of her nature, and gave a 
" form and substance " to her thoughts by commenc- 
ing a journal, which she continued for some time, 



26 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1846.] 

Fully concurring, however, in the opinion of the late 
venerated Dawson of Barnbow, that " diaries in gene- 
ral are of little worth except for personal use in pri- 
vate, and will only admit of brief extracts for publi- 
cation," and that " a man is best seen in his unstudied 
letters to his friends," the writer will thus chiefly ex- 
hibit her. The first entry is worth extracting as an 
interesting mental exhibition of a girl under seven- 
teen. 

"March 24, 1846. This evening I had a delight- 
ful walk with Mr. B. to Stapenhill, and returning 
along by the fields, we crossed the Trent in a boat. 
I shall not easily forget the impression made on my 
mind by that lovely scene. There was the boat- 
man's cottage almost buried among trees. Along the 
bank of the Trent on one side were trees and bushes 
overhanging the water, and you might fancy they were 
forever contemplating their own image in the stream. 
Behind them was a sort of precipice, the top being 
many, many feet high. From its almost perpendicu- 
lar sides jutted forth large masses of craggy rock and 
stones, giving to the scene a peculiarly wild and 
striking appearance. Higher up the stream was a 
beautiful little island, round which the waters wind 
gracefully. Still higher might be seen the antique- 
looking bridge, furnishing a curious and interesting 
specimen of architecture in the year 1621. Beneath 
its arches were a few swans bathing their snowlike 
plumage, and forming a striking contrast to the dark 
dirty-looking arches which served as their canopy. 
Behind me were two hills crowned with tall poplars. 
Every object seemed just bursting into life, All na- 



1846.] LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL. 27 

ture looked joyous, and I was happy in the contem- 
plation of its beauties. Suddenly an idea struck me 
so forcibly that had a voice from the ' spirit-land ' 
whispered it in my ear I could not have felt it more. 
It was this : ' God is love !' In an instant every ob- 
ject was gifted with voice. ' God is love !' was borne 
on the wings of the zephyrs; the waters murmured 
it faintly in their onward course ; the trees whispered 
it gently to the breezes, and the everlasting hills 
stood as monuments of its truth ; while my bounding 
heart joined in the chorus of the feathered songsters, 
and exclaimed, ' God is love !'" 

Evidently there was poetry in her nature. For 
some time past she had occasionally given expres- 
sion to her thoughts in verse, and though her effu- 
sions do not perhaps reach a high standard, the in- 
sertion of a few will be a gratification to her personal 
friends. 

Her admiration of the beautiful in art found high 
gratification in a visit to Lichfield Cathedral in the 
month of April. A brief narrative of one object will 
interest : " Having spent some time in examining this 
beautiful part of the edifice, I asked somewhat impa- 
tiently to see ' the sleeping infants. 5 Our guide evi- 
dently enjoyed my anxiety, and when I told him I 
expected to see living marble, he said with great con- 
fidence: 'You will not be disappointed, ma'am.' He 
threw open the door and bade me enter. I advanced 
toward a small monument covered with a cloth. The 
covering was removed — I stood at the feet of the 
lovely infants. I gazed till every feature was en- 
graven on my heart. You first fancy they have laid 



28 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1846.] 

on their mattress side by side, and on some sudden 
emotion of tenderness, or perhaps a sense of weari- 
ness, they have hastily turned and embraced each 
other. This action has discomposed their loose un- 
dress, and beneath its graceful foldings you can trace 
an exquisite figure. The whole is so perfectly natural 
that it is impossible to find fault. There appears 
such an utter abandonment of every thing like studied 
grace and negligence as at once strikes you. It is 
impossible to describe the beautiful symmetry of 
their forms, or the exquisite shape of their small and 
delicate feet. After gazing for some time, I heard 
with a feeling of vexation that our guide was shaking 
his keys, and retreating a few paces, as a signal for us 
to retire." 

An entry dated April 26 reveals the predomin- 
ance of a sentimentaiism with which she must have 
had many a conflict ere she attained that soundness 
of mind which subsequently characterized her. She 
was on a visit to Melton-Mowbray. "Mrs. L. has a 
delightful cottage, elegantly furnished and surrounded 
by floral sweets. The beautiful prospect of daisy- 
decked fields, and the murmur of rippling waters, 
with echoing music of birds, made it a scene almost 
like enchantment. It was a changeful April day, and 
the rain drops sparkled on the petals, and shone in 
the calyx of many a flower. I wonder how it is that 
such scenes as these .make me melancholy. It was 
with difficulty I restrained the starting tear, and sup- 
pressed the half-uttered sigh for the absent and the 
dead. Surely the remembrance of such should have 
been banished at that moment. But so it is, our very 



1846.] VISITS SCARBOROUGH. 29 

possessions remind us of our losses, our pleasures of 
our sorrows." 

With its exhilarating influences this spring brought 
also great physical debility. Apprehensions began 
to be entertained by Miss Hessel that the destroyer, 
which had already robbed the family of two of its 
members, had marked her as his victim. Her debil- 
ity increasing with the approach of summer, medical 
aid was deemed necessary. On examination her lungs 
were pronounced free from disease, though peculiarly 
susceptible, and sea-air was recommended. Early in 
July therefore she left Burton for Catterton, and in 
a few days proceeded to Scarborough accompanied 
by her brother. On the day following she writes : 
"Though the objects with which I am surrounded are 
calculated to dissipate, yet they may be rendered 
subservient to devout reflection. While watching 
the motion of the waves, I may make them aids to 
devotional feeling, and, with the sweet singer of 
Israel, pray that my righteousness may be as the 
waves of the sea."" 

Her visit to Scarborough appears to have answered 
the expectations of her medical adviser, and she 
returned home, after three weeks' absence, with 
recruited health. 

On the 30th she confesses to a habit to which 
young persons of her temperament are extensively 
addicted, little as they usually suspect it. The dis- 
covery augured favorably for her future improve- 
ment. "I have lived too much in an ideal world, a 
world which my own fancy created. I have exam- 
ined human nature through every telescope but that 



30 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1846.] 

of truth. And now I begin to fear that after all the 
knowledge I have acquired, I have omitted one of the 
most important acquisitions — a knowledge of myself. 
All the wisdom I have lately attained has served only 
to convince me of my ignorance." 

As a manifestation of character the following ex- 
tract is worthy of insertion. It shows that she 
possessed much of the 'material which makes true 
friendship. It is dated' August 3, and relates to a 
young friend then resident in Leeds : " I called upon 
Mr. T. at his warehouse, and found that his sis-" 
ter was worse. Poor Helen ! what would I give to 
be near her, to smooth the rough pillow of sickness, 
to watch by her lonely couch, and to administer to 
every want! I walked past the house that I might 
at least have the satisfaction of being within a few 
yards of her, and w^ept to think that I might not keep 
one lonely vigil by her side. None but her medical 
attendant and nurse are permitted to see her." 

There was evidently a strong affinity between her 
mind and that of her departed brother. At times 
she realized this vividly. On the 28th she writes: 
" I never w r as so much struck with the constitutional 
similarity of mind which seems to exist between John 
and myself as I was to-day, when, taking up his mem- 
oir, I opened on these words : ' I see now that I 
could soon write myself out of existence.' I have 
often thought that were I laid upon a bed of .death 
this passion would outlive every expiring energy and 
survive even language itself. Never did I feel such 
a oneness of spirit with my departed and gifted 
brother as while reading his quotation from those 



1846.] DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT. 31 

exquisite lines of Mrs. Hemans's ; Mozart's Bequiem,' 
which he applies to the too much indulged passion 
for writing : 

* Yet have I known it long, 

Too restless and too strong 
Within this clay hath been the o'ermastering flame ; 

Swift thoughts that came and went, 

Like torrents o'er me sent, 
Have shaken, as a reed, this thrilling frame. , 

I sometimes think I have cherished this passion too 
extensively. It has been too strong for my physical 
and nervous system. Writing has a similar effect 
on my mind to that of music on a person endowed, 
with a peculiarly refined taste for that science. It 
is a sort of pouring out of the soul. It delights and 
soothes, while at the same time it is pressing ' the 
beauty of life ' from the heart." 

The intensity of her desire for improvement here 
reveals itself. September 10: 'lam reading Howe. 
His style is not .the most winning, but there is a 
grandeur and dignity in his thoughts which is seldom 
to be met with. I am convinced that theology will 
do me more good than anything else just now. I 
want something to call forth my mind as well as to 
fortify my heart." 

A letter to her brother, dated September 26, ex- 
cites our sympathy, and reveals the efficacy of "a 
determined effort " in cases where it is usually deem- 
ed powerless : " My present course of life exacts a 
fearful tribute from my mental as well as my bodily 
energies. I want society. Solitude leads me to 
study, and its effects have been very injurious to me. 
Think of my rising from my bed for a week together 



32 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1846] 

when I have slept, on an average, but three hours per 
night, and you will not wonder that during the day I 
have been intolerably dull. I could have slept if I 
could have banished thought, but my energies were 
just awaking at bedtime. I am thankful, however, 
that after a most determined effort I have got the 
better of this. You know nothing of me. I am 
another being when you are here. Now I am in as 
absolute solitude as was Eobinson Crusoe." 

The moral tendency of her aspirations and her 
strong filial affection are exhibited in an entry dated 
October 12. Would that all such mothers were 
thus regarded ! Do not a mother's toils, sufferings, 
and sacrifices demand such recompense % If, mothers, 
it be sometimes denied you, the consciousness of 
deserving it is a satisfaction and a joy. 

" This morning I was led to indulge in a train of 
thought which, I trust, will have a salutary influence 
on my conduct. In the positions of daughter, sister, 
and aunt, I would be found doing my duty. The dis- 
charge of that duty may bring with it innumerable 
blessings. Its non-performance may be attended 
with bitter consequences, and in after-life be followed 
with unavailing regret. There is one who demands 
all my sympathy and affection, who as a wife and a 
mother has discharged the important duties of her 
station in a manner which evinced the strength of her 
conjugal and maternal affection, and whose peculiarly 
trying circumstances gave an opportunity for the 
full development of that self-devoted, disinterested 
Christian heroism which her children will remember 
with gratitude when her name and the memory of 



1847.] REMOVAL TO BOSTON SPA. S3 

her high worth will be enshrined only in the hearts 
of those who witnessed such devotedness. Of such 
fortitude in trial, steadfastness in adversity, and 
dauntless energy, when despair would have over- 
whelmed some hearts, and above all of such unas- 
suming piety, fame speaks not. But these are 
engraved in a more enduring page, and will have 
their reward when earth and its blazoned pomp and 
pride shall have passed away like a vision." 

" February 28, 1847. I have been thinking this 
evening that the more I see and feel of the passions 
of the human heart, and the more extensive my 
acquaintance with the natural world becomes, the 
more clearly do I perceive the analogy that exists 
between them. I do not know of any feeling or 
emotion in that busy world, the heart, but its em- 
blem may be found in the natural and physical 
world. This analogy is often very subtle and mys- 
terious. The busy tribes know or heed it not. A 
thinking few discern and feel it. With what clear- 
ness must He behold it, whose eye can comprehend 
with one glance past, present, and future, and to 
whose vision thoughts, feelings, intents, emotions, 
and passions are as discernible as the material crea- 
tions of his hand !" 

In the autumn of this year the family left Catter 
ton and removed to Boston Spa. Mr. Hessel's 
health had been for some time declining. He had 
desired that his son should pursue the vocation in 
which the family had been engaged for so many gen- 
erations. But William had a higher calling. The 
Divine Spirit had laid the prophet's mantle on him, 



34 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1847.] 

and two years before he had entered the Didsbury 
Wesleyan Theological Institution. Regret was natu- 
rally experienced at quitting the old house and the 
severance of many interesting associations. Early 
in spring, in anticipation of removal, Miss Hessel 
had written : " I was thinking to-day that I could 
leave the home of my childhood without one feeling 
of regret, but as I looked on each familiar thing, iden- 
tified with my earliest infancy, they seemed to say : 

' ! hath the memory 
Of other years no power upon thy soul, 
That thus, with tearless eye, thou leavest us, 
And with an unfaltering voice, to come no more.' 

And then I felt the spring-tide of early affection be- 
gin to flow, and the gushing tenderness of my heart 
testified to the memory of childhood's joys." 

In every respect, however, the change was benefi- 
cial. To her it was particularly welcome, for, be- 
sides the society it afforded (and a circle of attached 
friends was soon gathered, from whom many kind- 
nesses were received) the scenery presented many 
charms. The "Wharfe, beautiful throughout its 
course, exhibits peculiar beauties in this locality. 
Enriched by numerous tributaries, its bed expands to 
a considerable breadth. Its banks, here precipitous, 
there gently sloping, are gracefully wooded. Pro- 
ceeding from Thorp- Arch Station to Boston Spa, the 
traveler comes upon it suddenly. A bridge, rising 
to some considerable elevation, furnishes the first 
full view, and a delightful view it is. On the right, 
a cascade, caused by the weir of an adjacent mill, 
attracts attention. It is difficult to say whether this 



1847.] BOSTON SPA. 35 

is most to be admired when the stream is swollen, 
and pours itself in massive grandeur with uproarious 
exultation, or when, by its shallowness, it exhibits a 
sheet of glistening silver. The mill itself, and the 
adjoining cottage, enhance the picturesque effect. On 
the left it may be seen to linger for some distance 
amid the quiet of shaded banks. Having crossed the 
bridge, you are conducted, by a path on the left hand, 
through two or three fields to a pleasant walk, from 
which the view given on the title-page is taken. Present 
ly you arrive at a neat stone structure, which proclaims 
itself to be " The Spa Baths," and proceeding a little 
further you come to the gates of the New Bath and 
Hotel, a large and handsome building, the grounds 
of which are laid out with admirable taste and thrown 
open to the public. At the distance of half a mile 
from the bridge, in the opposite direction, is Jack- 
daw Crag, a huge limestone rock, rising perpendicu- 
larly to a considerable height. A foot-path, for the 
most part skirting a deep declivity embosomed in 
wood, conducts you to an abrupt valley where you 
reach the river's brink. Standing under the Crag 
you are in the center of a curve. Were this your 
first view of the river you would believe it to be a 
lake, and pronounce it almost as beautiful as any 
that Westmoreland or Cumberland can boast. Its 
deep and placid waters, reflecting the foliage of a 
thousand trees, inspire a reverie which chains the 
beholder to the place. It scarcely need be stated that 
this was a favorite resort of our departed friend. 

Besides being pleasantly situated, the village has 
an aspect of great respectability, and the pureness 
3 



86 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1847.] 

of its air, together with the valuable properties of its 
mineral waters, combine to make it attractive to vis- 
itors. These make a very agreeable addition to the 
society of the place in summer. With some of them 
Miss Hessel had very pleasant intercourse, and with 
one or two she formed a valued friendship. 

The following is too characteristic to be omitted. 
It was addressed to her brother in July. "I have 
lately discovered that the composition of dramatic, 
more than any other kind of writing, will increase 
my knowledge of human nature. I am perfectly 
astonished at the discoveries of the human heart to 
which a study of this kind of poetry leads." Subse- 
quently she writes : " I send the drama you were so 
anxious to see; it is my first, and I am inclined to 
think it will be my last attempt at the tragic. How- 
ever, £ good taste makes a good critic, 7 says Blair, and I 
think you possess that, therefore you shall be my 
judge. The same writer adds : ' but genius alone can 
make a poet. 7 Whether { possess that genius or not 
your good taste must decide. I leave my betters to 
judge of my abilities, and care nothing for the opinion 
of those who call everything worthless which, for want 
of capacity, they don T t understand. 

" I shall feel obliged if you will give me a subject. 
I am always fishing for difficulties on purpose to con- 
quer them. I soriietimes fear lest I should resemble 
the character Lord Chesterfield somewhere describes 
as 'substituting little objects for great ones, and 
throwing away upon trifles that time and attention 
which only important things deserve.' " 

After having offered one or two observations on 



1848.] EXTRACTS FBOM LETTERS. 37 

" Todd's Student's Manual," which she informs her 
brother she had lately been reading, she writes March 
14, 1848 : "I am not speaking of it as a whole, for 
what was written expressly for students cannot be appli- 
cable to the case of a woman whose character must ever 
be domestic, while she humbly strives to be intelligent. 
I detest the word 'intellectual' when applied to a 
woman. It is impossible for my mind to separate it 
from those horrid visions of untidy drawers, unmend- 
ed stockings, neglected families, and all the other 
characteristics of a slatternly housewife. And yet 
it is not a necessary consequence. But, dear me! 
how one's thoughts ramble." 

" The sight of your letter," she says to her brother 
again a few months afterward, " gave me great pleas- 
ure ; but those parts of it which relate to your health 
have occasioned me much uneasiness and concern. I 
never felt my happiness so dependent on your life 
as I do at present. This morning a thought struck 
me which gave me pain. On reviewing the past in 
connection with yourself, I was obliged to confess 
that on your behalf I had wept and prayed more for 
long life than for your success in the ministry, and 
that with an importunity which I fear was not chas- 
tened by submission to the will of God." 

With a wisdom that would not have discredited a 
larger experience she again addressed her brother 
November 25 : " I went to Catterton, that amid its 
quiet I might hush the turmoil of my spirit and find 
peace amid its -dear old woods. I came back with 
fresh strength to struggle on and combat with the 
trial. I thank you for your remarks. Doubtless I 



38 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1849 ] 

am now preparing either to battle with greater trials, 
or enjoy future quiet with a mind capable of appreci- 
ating it more fully. I have sometimes thought that 
my romantic notions of woman's trials are not all 
visionary, and that now, when I should feel disposed 
to laugh at them, the stern truths of reality are be- 
fore me. I have known something of what she expe- 
rienced who said, 'tis woman's lot 

1 Silent tears to weep, 
And patient smiles to wear through suffering's hour, 
And sunless riches from affection's deep 
To pour on broken reeds, a wasted shower : 
And to make idols, and to find them clay, 
And to bewail that worship.' 

But all is not always dark. And my spirit some- 
times rises above it all with a trust unshaken that 
even these are to be numbered among the ' all 
things' that c work together for good.' I know that 
strength is often born amid deep suffering, but never 
in joy. And 'earth must be rent before her gems are 
found.' " 

The autumn of 1S49 brought a sad domestic visita- 
tion. Mr. Hessel was suddenly seized with an ill- 
ness which excluded all hope of recovery. His 
daughter thus communicates her sorrows to her 
friend Miss W., then of Skipton, October 29: " You 
do not know, dear Polly, that for more than three 
long weeks we have been keeping our lonely vigils 
by the dying pillow of my dear father, and that now 
your friend is writing by the sick couch at an hour 
when your eyes are doubtless closed in sleep. Ours 
is indeed a mournful house. Even when absent from 



1849.] DEATH OF MR. HESSEL. 39 

the sick room, the dull monotony of my round of 
duties, the stillness of the house, the ominous sound 
of the muffled knocker, and the same mournful tale 
of decaying hopes to the ceaseless inquiries of well- 
meaning but too frequent callers — all these things 
are wearing down my spirit, and making me more 
like a piece of mechanism than a living, breathing, 
thinking being. My father was taken ill very sud- 
denly, and it is a great mercy he did not die instanta- 
neously. His complaint is disease of the heart, 
which, you are aware, may prove fatal at any mo- 
ment. There seems, however, now to be a gradual 
decay of nature. He has never been able to sit up 
since the day he was brought home to bed from a 
friend's house. He takes no support, and it is a 
matter of surprise, even to our medical attendant, 
that he continues so long." He died November 10, 
aged sixty-seven years. 

The chasm thus created was filled, as far as possi- 
ble, by the unremitting filial and fraternal affection 
of her brother. He had been for three years engaged 
in the ministry, and was now resident in the Isle of 
Wight. Thither he desired that his widowed mother 
and eldest sister should at once remove. The youn- 
ger sister was now at school. Arrangements were 
promptly made, and before the end of November 
they were comfortably located at Percy Cottage, 
Ventnor, 

Her friends, the Misses G., soon heard from her. 
Describing one or two features in an engraving which 
accompanied the letter, she says : " The scene is just 
above Ventnor, The range of rocks, which looks so 



40 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1849.] 

much like a fortification, stretches along what is 
called the Undercliff. Beyond the point of that pro- 
jecting cliff stands Ventnor, and it is a splendid sight 
to stand on the esplanade on a dark night, between 
the roar of the mighty world of waters and the town 
scattered in such wild beauty over the rocks, while 
from every window lights are glancing on the mount- 
ain and in the valley, and you gaze until you fancy 
they are suspended in the canopy of heaven and up 
held only by the finger of Omnipotence." 

" Ventnor is a very pretty place," she writes to 
Miss S. E., December 24, " and the neighborhood is 
exceedingly beautiful. There is a village called 
Bonchurch just above Ventnor, which, to my taste, is 
the very perfection of beauty. You would be de- 
lighted with it. Standing on an eminence the eye 
takes in, almost at a glance, a world of beauty. On 
one side is a vast extent of sea, often almost covered 
with vessels sailing to and from foreign lands ; on the 
other side is a vast ridge of rocks and mountains 
called The Downs, covered with every variety and 
shade of ; green-bright,' and fresh as in early autumn. 
Perched amid these jutting rocks, and peeping out of 
their bowers of everlasting green, are the dwellings 
of the aristocracy ; and verily they remind you of the 
eagle's eyrie. Upon one of these ledges of rock, far 
above the common herd of men, Lord Rivers has his 
seat. And at every turn you are almost startled by 
a bird's-eye view of another and another of these 
lordly mansions, peeping out from amid the wild 
beauties of nature, and almost making you wonder 
whether mortals really are privileged to luxuriate 



1849.] BONCHUKCH. 41 

amid so rich a profusion of natural grandeur. Walk- 
ing through the village, far below all this beauty of 
nature and art, you come to a fish-pond overhung 
with a variety of living green, and over this is a sort 
of light trellis-work, exquisitely beautiful, with a 
feathery flower, more like a ball of sea-foam than 
anything I can think of. This beautiful thing abounds 
here, and seems to possess many of the properties of 
ivy, creeping over and clinging to the hedgerows. I 
often stand to look at this mass of beauty, and almost 
envy the stately swans on the surface of the waters, 
whose proud forms it shelters. 

" But in Bonchurch there is a still more interesting 
object to me. Behind a jutting rock there is a nar- 
row pass, and your curiosity is instantly awakened to 
know what lies beyond. There is a commodious 
dwelling, hemmed in by rocks and waves, standing 
on the shore buried in foliage. It seems the very 
abode of the Muses. Beauty and song are always 
around it. Care and sorrow would seem strange 
companions there. Last winter this fairy spot was 
the abode of Charles Dickens, and Brown, the famous 
caricature sketcher for Punch, Here, for three 
months, they pursued their labors, and from this 
fairy spot, around which the waves are ever making 
music, emanated a thousand thoughts which have 
kindled as many varied emotions in ten times as 
many hearts." 

On the 29th she entertains 'her Skipton friend by a 
narrative of her visit to Carisbrooke Castle: "We 
have been this morning to Carisbrooke Castle, of 
which you have no doubt hf^rd. It is only a mile 



42 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850.] 

from Newport, and is really a splendid ruin, sur- 
rounded by immense fortifications. Here King 
Charles I. was a prisoner, and at Carisbrooke Church 
the body of his daughter is interred. You may per- 
haps have heard of the celebrated donkey at this cas- 
tle. The docile creature draws water out of a well 
three hundred feet deep. He walks within a wheel 
of immense dimensions. It is a most ludicrous sight, 
and he seems fully conscious of the interest excited 
by his appearance in such a position, and comports 
himself with a dignity one might reverence but for 
the association. It is tremendous to look down into 
this well. A torch is let down, and through ninety 
feet of solid rock, and as great a length of stone wall, 
it wends its dark and lonely way until it swims on 
the surface of the water. You throw a little water 
down, and it is seven seconds before you hear it pat- 
tering on the surface beneath. So much for Caris- 
brooke and its intellectual donkey." 

"I go to church sometimes," she writes to Miss 
B. G., on January 25, 1850. " They have a very 
good but eccentric clergyman, who is a Millenarian. 
The doctrine prevails here to an amazing extent. The 
curate, Dr. Blackwood, is an excellent man. His 
wife, too, Lady Alicia Blackwood, is a very pious 
woman, a very Lydia in heart and life. Mother had 
a long interview the other day with her ladyship, 
and was delighted with, her conversation. She is of 
Irish origin, a daughter of the Earl of Craven, and 
her native energy of character, together with her ex- 
alted rank, renders her influence very great. Dr. 
Blackwood has established a Ladies' Bible Class, 



1850J THE CHUECH OF ST. LAWRENCE. 43 

which I am about to join. He holds it in his own 
house from twelve till one on Thursday mornings, 
and Lady Blackwood attends and assists him. He 
gave a breakfast the other morning, and invited all 
the ministers in the town with a view to establish 
Monthly Alliance Meetings. All the ministers 
seem to coincide with him but one. I would that 
every Church of England pastorate were ruled over 
by a Dr. and Lady Blackwood. There would be 
more vital godliness both in the hovel and the 
palace." 

The Church of St. Lawrence, " the smallest church 
in England," was visited by Miss Hessel. The emo- 
tions it awakened she has thus expressed : 

" Peace reigns around thee. ! 'tis passing sweet, 

From the world's din, and all its toils and strife, 

To -seek thy quiet shade ; to leave awhile 

Life's round of cares, and still each passion's breath, 

By holy commune with the sacred dead. 

How beautiful their rest, where falls the shade 

Of thy low walls and ivy-mantled tower ! 

Where the unceasing murmur of the waves, 

Making low music, as a requiem falls 

Upon the pensive ear. And flowers are there, 

Man's bright companions in his hours of joy, 

Nor less his friends when sorrow's adverse tide, 

With threatening front, o'ertakes him. They are bright 

And beautiful 'mid all, but brightest still, 

Most beautifully fair, as watchers lone 

By the still tomb. 

" Entered the lowly fane 
We join the bending worshipers, with them 
Pour forth to Heaven our notes of grateful praise, 
And, as they rise, the exulting voices 
Of the uplifted waves swell the song, 
Bearing from far-off lands and distant shores 
One bursting hymn of universal praise." 



44 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850J 

Of course a visit was paid to the grave of "the 
Dairyman's Daughter." Of it she says : 

• " It is a lowly tomb. No marble there 
Or sculptor's art doth blazon forth high birth, 
Or deeds of proud renown. A simple stone, 
In modest characters, reveals the spot 
Where sleeps her precious dust, whose earnest faith 
And humble love are registered on high. 
Her name, from records' of the holy dead, 
Hath perished not ; and the ungarnished tale 
Of her meek piety and fervent zeal 
Hath found a listener in the lordly hall 
And by the cottage hearth. Well I recall, 
While bending o'er her dust, the days of yore, 
When in my far-off home, ' a dreamy child,' 
I conned the pages of that simple tale, 
And in my nightly orisons I prayed 
That my young life might be as pure as hers." 

The subjoined paragraph from a letter to a friend 
who shall be nameless is earnestly commended to all 
scrawling correspondents, male or female : " I read 
your letter, received last night, with very great pleas- 
ure, because, in the first place, I could read ' straight 
on.' I have been accustomed to sit down and eluci- 
date the subject-matter of your letters as I would the 
hieroglyphics of some treasured oracle. You will 
believe that this mystification did not necessarily add 
to the value of what you said, any further than it 
served to impress with wonderful clearness on my 
mind the sentence I was just then deciphering to the 
total exclusion of every previous one, But this, you 
will no doubt agree with me in thinking, may possi- 
bly be as attributable to the sieve-like texture of my 
mind as to your puzzling caligraphy," 



1850.] KETUKN TO BOSTON SPA. 45 

To her Skipton friend she gives, in an explanation 
of a fact she deplores, a statement deserving attention. 
March 20 : "A deep mortification is sometimes felt 
by me in composition. Perhaps I have puzzled for a 
long time, and at length a bright thought, just adapt- 
ed for the place I wanted it to occupy, has presented 
itself in clear and distinct revealings to my mind, but 
ere I could commit it to paper my perception of it 
has become dim, and like a bright but baseless vision 
it has faded, and left not a trace behind. I some- 
times think I may have contributed to this by read- 
ing too much and too fast, so that a vast succes- 
sion of images have been made on my mind, but could 
not, from their multiplicity, find a lodgment there." 

As spring approached the health of her brother, 
which had been for some time delicate, became so 
impaired as to incapacitate him for his duties, and it 
was deemed desirable he should try the effect of the 
bracing air of his native county. Mrs. Hessel hav- 
ing retained possession of her house at Boston Spa, 
it was determined to remove thither early in April. 
In a letter to Mrs. G., of Ventnor, since deceased, 
Miss Hessel gives an interesting account of their 
journey, and the kind reception that awaited them: 

"We arrived here in safety last Tuesday night, 
and found our house very comfortable, and a host of 
friends to receive us. Indeed, we were almost crowd- 
ed until after ten o'clock, when they considerately left 
us to that repose which was very sweet after the long 
continued excitement and fatigue we had endured. 
We were delighted with all we saw at Portsmouth. 



46 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850.] 

Our stay in London, too, was very agreeable, and we 
were not lazy, I assure you, for we were sight-seeing 
from morning till night, although the weather was so 
unfavorable. Still it was a relief to feel myself clear 
of the whirl of the great Babel. O ! the thought of 
living and dying there was to me intolerable; and 
never did I feel to yearn so for the woods and rocks, 
and the beautiful river of my own fair village, as 
when I gazed shudderingly on the dark fearful walls 
of Newgate, and the Tower, so rife with terrible asso- 
ciations. And yet I saw much to kindle very differ- 
ent feelings — wealth, and beauty, and power, and all 
that seemed to make life desirable. So closely, how- 
ever, did it seem connected with crime and suffering, 
sorrow and poverty, of the worst kind, that I thought 
the very enjoyment of the former must be marred 
by the presence of the latter. 

Perhaps I looked on everything with an intensity 
which might be attributed to the circumstance of my 
having seen it all in fancy's glass by the aid of that 
masterly delineator of men and things, Charles Dick- 
ens ; and truly there was not an object on which I 
gazed, from the proud peeress, whose carriage rolled 
along the Park, to the very meanest sons and daugh- 
ters of misery and want, who oame folding their tat- 
tered rags around their gaunt forms to gather from 
the mud and refuse which the dark sullen waters of 
the Thames deposited on the bank, but seemed to 
have been touched by his spirit to have gathered an 
intensity of interest, and to claim an amount of sym- 
pathy from the fact that he had thought and written 
about it, And when the solemn truth came to the 



1850.] SUNDAY SERVICES. 47 

heart with an irresistible force : l God hath made of 
one blood all nations and families of men,' I felt a 
wondering gratitude for the difference of circum- 
stances which had made my life one of continued bless- 
ing compared with some of the lives around me. 
' Who maketh thee to differ V I often asked as we 
were beset at the different wharves by hosts of 
the squalid sons of poverty, and alas ! too often of 
crime. 

" Sunday was a day of high religious festival. In 
the morning we heard Dr. Bunting, and in the even- 
ing Dr. dimming. In the afternoon we were less 
fortunate in point of edification or enjoyment, for we 
went to St. Paul's, and being carried further by the 
crowd than we intended were locked in until the con- 
clusion of a long service, much to the annoyance of 
a young Scotchman, who was my Cicerone. By the 
way he was an Irishman by birth, but has spent most 
of his life in Scotland. He amused me not a little 
on our way home by denouncing the service with 
great volubility and energy — ' a burlesque on com- 
mon sense, magnificent tomfoolery,' and a great 
many more such epithets. Having exhausted his 
Irish eloquence, he cut it up with a great deal 
of Scotch shrewdness, and made us all merry with a 
display of the odd admixture of national character in 
himself." 

After the statement she has given of her reading 
at Melton-Mowbray we cannot wonder at her famil- 
iarity with the writings of Charles Dickens. How 
completely a favorite author possessed her mind is 
strikingly evinced in this communication. The biog- 



48 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850.] 

rapher, however, in placing it within the power of 
his readers to quote the authority of Miss Hessel for 
reading works of fiction, feels it obligatory to supple- 
ment a word of admonition. By no means does he 
pronounce an indiscriminate condemnation on all 
such writings. To do this would be to pronounce 
against nearly all poetry, the household book of 
Bunyan, and some parts of the inspired volume. A 
large portion of that kind of writing, however, min- 
isters only to a morbid taste, and depraves instead 
of elevates. Whatever aims at exciting the imagina- 
tion only, and produces a distaste for instructive 
books, merits unqualified condemnation. It is not 
simply time wasted, which is bad enough, it is time 
perverted. And as regards such writings of a higher 
class, if only a limited amount of time be at com- 
mand, surely the useful should be preferred to the 
agreeable. In no case ought works of fiction to 
be regarded as more than condiments. Truth re- 
quires it to be stated that such was the relation in 
which they subsequently stood to Miss Hessel. Let 
no one plead her authority for light literature who 
does not couple with it as much of solid. 

While at Ventnor Miss Hessel had formed a 
very agreeable acquaintance with two young ladies 
from Cambridge, sisters, one of whom was seeking 
rescue from the ravages of consumption — vainly, 
however, as it proved. In reply to the communica- 
tion announcing the decease of the invalid she wrote 
on April 27 : 

"Try to regard her removal as a wise and merci- 
ful dispensation toward her, and a no less wise and 



1850.] CONSOLATORY THOUGHT. 49 

salutary one toward yourself. To her, who now 
reaps the full reward of her martyrlike patience be- 
fore the throne of God, it w T as a dispensation fraught 
with richest mercy. To you it may prove of incal- 
culable benefit. There is a chain of many links 
encircling bright affections here. Some of these links 
extend to heaven, and the chain centers in God him- 
self. He has seen, fit to draw another link from 
earth ; but it is there in heaven, and you shall find it. 
No canker worm can mar its brightness and beauty 
there. This thought has been my consolation. It 
was associated with my earliest bereavement; and 
as I have passed onward through life, and have suf- 
fered the loss of friends, I have thought, as I watched 
their flight from earth, another link has been hid, not 
severed or lost, 'for the whole family in heaven and 
earth are one,' and though the chain is diminishing 
here it is lengthening there— there where every link is 
completed in beautiful harmony, and where the whole 
shall be perfected and purified for ever." 

On the 19th of June, besides having to inform Mrs. 
G. of the continued indisposition of her brother, who, 
having " tried to speak once or twice on the platform, 
found his voice to fail, and become almost inaudible," 
she has to report also the unexpected arrival of her 
sister as an invalid. " As I know of little beyond the 
incidents of our family circle which can possibly inter- 
est you, I must give you a few of my joys and sorrows, 
and trust to your goodness of heart for that sympathy 
which alone will make my egotistical tale endurable. 
Well ! soon after our return to Thorp- Arch — not more 
than a month after—poor Sophy came home from 



50 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850.] 

Leeds with an affection of the spine, which has caused 
us much anxiety. It is likely to be a very tedious, 
but I hope not eventually serious affliction. She is 
already considerably better, and under the skillful 
treatment of our medical attendant, we hope to see 
her quite restored. It was a bitter trial, and when it 
first came upon us seemed almost insupportable. 
She is undergoing a severe course of treatment, but 
her resignation and cheerfulness deprive the pain of 
seeing her suffer of much of its poignancy." 

If this sickness served no other valuable purpose, it 
unfolded a lovely feature in the character of our friend. 
In a subsequent part of. the same letter she says : 
" To-morrow morning there will be a public breakfast 
given to Dr. Bunting in the Brunswick Rooms in 
Leeds. William has gone, but I am left. I have only 
to raise my head and glance at the sofa, to feel satis 
fied that my path of duty is here. Although Sophia 
was quite willing I should go, yet I knew how much 
of sacrifice was implied in that willingness. The 
doctor preaches on Friday. He must be gratified at 
this demonstration of Yorkshire feeling. And nowhere 
throughout the land will he find more noble, heart- 
warm friends than in Leeds. Pardon this eulogy on 
clear old Leeds. Amid the incessant din of its busy 
commerce, and the eternal smoke of its factories, there 
are more true-hearted, noble-minded men in it than 
can be found in any town of equal size in the kingdom. 

" And now I must conclude. I hope you will not 
be quite tired of my long, commonplace epistle. But 
to tell you the truth, I have been very matter-of-fact 
lately, and with the exception of a few strolls along 



1850.] REMINISCENCES BY A FRIEND. 51 

my favorite walk, I have been occupied with such vul- 
gar cares as every-day life furnishes. But I should 
not forget that God may design to teach me many 
useful, aye, and sublime lessons of high and holy trust 
and perfected patience in these trials which beset my 
path. It is not in the hour of calm, nor the sunshine 
of prosperity, that the heart unfolds its richest treas- 
ures. I know not that these lessons are not preparing 
me for still severer trials, but I feel that I can leave 
myself in His hands, who has hitherto guided my 
erring footsteps, and led me by a right way. How 
much I feel this I cannot possibly make another under- 
stand. My own heart rejoices in the fact, and offers 
its modicum of gratitude for the goodness and wisdom 
which have marked out my path, and directed my 
goings in that path." 

Another extract from the reminiscences of a fellow- 
pupil here claims insertion : " Shortly after leaving 
school, being on a visit at Thorp-Arch, Eliza and I 
met again, no longer as school-girls. We soon found 
we had kindred sympathies which drew our hearts 
together, and formed the basis of a lasting friendship. 
For this friendship I have indeed reason to be both 
proud and thankful. To it I owe more than I can ever 
express. It would, however, be a much easier matter 
to speak of it if I were not also speaking of myself. 
Our minds were then in leading-strings, and we each 
resolved to strike out an independent course of thought, 
firmly believing that a candid, honest inquirer after 
the truth will certainly find it at last. This was a 
kind of creed with us, and we held tenaciously by it. 
4 



52 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850.] 

Through a good deal of chaos we both groped for 
some time, often involved in mists, or misled by false 
glimmers. But Eliza soon emerged into the light, 
and ever after became my pioneer in all that was 
good. 

"The remembrance of the many happy days we 
have spent together is < as ointment poured forth. 5 
Every nook and glen around our separate homes have 
we explored together, and enjoyed, with full hearts, 
the silent eloquence of nature's ever changeful beauty. 
Eliza's mind was peculiarly attuned to poetry, which 
oftenest means beauty. This imparted a peculiar 
charm to her society. In books, or conversations, or 
scenery, she always managed to cull whatever of 
beauty was there, were it ever so subtle or concealed. 

" You have seen from her letters something of the 
interchange of thought and feeling we mutually en- 
joyed ; but you get from them only a meager idea of 
what she was when, in the trustfulness of love, she 
unvailed her inmost thinkings to her friend. 

" Her visits were indeed no common pleasure. It 
was my own fault if I were not made both wiser and 
better by her intercourse. Before coming, she used 
to apprise me of an accumulation of books to read, 
and topics to converse upon, urging me to be similarly 
prepared. Sometimes, like children who delight in 
danger for the daring's sake, we trod forbidden ground, 
tracing out by-paths that led to Doubting Castle. 
At first I think we did it simply from love of advent- 
ure, but afterward from an earnest desire to know 
why we rejected certain phases of belief and accepted 
* the one,' Some of this reading did us harm no doubt. 



1850.] REMINISCENCES BY A FRIEND. 53 

It caused many terrible mental conflicts, but Eliza 
has said they left her convictions stronger after the 
struggle. 

"After the important change which transpired in 
our l dear old dining-room ' as she calls it, the result 
was most evident. Her whole character received a 
higher tone. She raised a very lofty standard of ex- 
cellence, and was constantly striving to attain it. Her 
talents and energies found new development in the 
service of God." 

Whatever was the benefit derived from this friend- 
ship by Miss S. R., it will be subsequently seen that 
the benefit imparted was held to be quite as great. 
It would afford high gratification to the writer to learn 
that what is here furnished of their correspondence 
had prompted many young readers to turn their 
friendships to an equally beneficial purpose. Corre- 
spondence is capable of yielding an immense benefit, 
for undoubtedly the pen is one of the most valuable 
instruments of mental culture. The benefit realized, 
however, will of course depend on the character of the 
correspondence. Perhaps it would be difficult to 
point to one more worthy of being regarded as a 
model for the young, than that conducted between 
these two friends. Scarcely a line of what could 
justly be denominated "gossip" is to be found in any 
of the letters placed in the writer's hands. 

"The important change" referred to in the conclud- 
ing paragraph of the reminiscences, it will be the ob- 
ject of the next chapter to narrate. 



54 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. 1850.] 



CHAPTER III. 

Anxious for the Enjoyment of Religion — Experiences a clear Sense 
of God's pardoning Love — The Hinderances to the earlier Expe- 
rience of this Blessing — Remarks on the Importance to the 
Young of a Religious Training, 

There is one event which, by the new direction it 
gives to the aims, and the ennobling influence it exerts 
upon the character, as well as the pure and satisfying 
joy it creates, constitutes an epoch in the life of every 
Christian. It is the fact of conversion. We now ar- 
rive at the period in the history of Miss Hessel in 
which this momentous change was experienced. 

For some years past a great religious awakening 
had existed in various parts of Scotland. The instru- 
ments were ministers who were persuaded they had 
received "new light" on several important points of 
Christian doctrine. Renouncing the restricted views 
in which they had been trained, they vigorously advo- 
cated the universal love of God to man, and strenu- 
ously insisted that faith in the Scripture testimony 
concerning the sacrificial death of Christ is the simple 
condition of salvation. In the spring .of 1850 a num- 
ber of these zealous men made an evangelistic tour 
into several northern counties of England. One of 
them, the Rev. George Dunn, visited Boston Spa, and 
conducted an out-door service in the afternoon of a 
Sunday in July. Miss Hessel was a hearer. By that 
sermon, together with a subsequent conversation, her 



1850.] EXTRACT FROM A LETTER. 55 

mind was excited to inquiries which issued in the 
joyous consciousness of her acceptance with God. 
We have ample means of ascertaining her state of 
mind from a free correspondence into which she en- 
tered with this gentleman. 

On July 31 she says : " I can offer no apology for 
presuming to address you, and I venture to hope you 
will deem the subject on which I write of too great 
importance to require one. I should have preferred 
a personal interview, but fitting opportunity was de- 
nied me to speak with you alone. You will perhaps 
be surprised to learn that I listened to your conversa- 
tion, on Monday afternoon, with an earnestness which 
nothing but a deep personal interest could have im- 
parted. My past history must in some measure be 
revealed to make you understand this. 

" When but a child I was admitted into ' the Soci- 
ety ' as an earnest seeker of salvation, and earnestly 
did I strive to obtain that blessing which we call ' the 
witness of the Spirit.' But my views of it were so 
confused, that I have hitherto remained destitute of 
anything more than a mere intellectual enjoyment of 
the truth, This I fear I have often mistaken for that 
deeper work of the heart which I now earnestly desire 
to experience. No one could have begun to meet in 
class with a greater horror of hypocrisy than did I. 
A kind but mistaken friend almost compelled me to 
go there in the first instance, and a dread of placing 
myself beyond the care of the Church, and of quench- 
ing the Spirit of God which strove with me, kept me 
there. I could not tell you all I have thought, and 
felt, and suffered during nine years of Church men> 



56 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

bership. Suffice it to say that sometimes I have be- 
lieved myself the possessor, in some degree, of true 
faith ; at others I have sunk into carelessness and de- 
parted far from God. I have been entangled in the 
gloomy meshes of Calvinism, and what is perhaps 
worse, bound to my heart a sentimental religion. 
Often, amid all this, 1 have prayed that God would 
give me true repentance, for my repentance, I have 
been strongly tempted to believe, was never suffi- 
ciently deep. 

" But I must now tell you something of my present 
experience. For some months past I have earnestly 
desired rest from these warring elements within. I 
have desired to be holy, that I might be happy, and 
render those more so who come within the circle of 
my influence. Last Sunday this desire seemed to 
gain deeper hold upon my spirit than it had ever 
done, and amounted to a determination to find, if pos- 
sible, that rest I have so long and vainly sought. 
While conversing with you on Monday afternoon, 
and listening to you in the evening, I felt as though I 
was not far from the kingdom of God. The way to 
' the cross ' had never appeared to me so simple, and 
it seemed as though my Saviour was saying to me, 
i The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy 
heart, if thou canst but believe.' 1 now think that 
had I told you my state of mind you would have 
been able to explain the nature of faith, so that I 
should have realized the coveted blessing. I feel 
even now the dawn of a new existence, and I would 
not barter my hope of salvation for the wealth of a 
dukedom. I seem nearer happiness than I have been 



1850.] A SEEKER OF SALVATION. 57 

for years. I hope I am not deceiving myself. I 
dread a false peace. May I trust to your goodness 
for a little of that counsel I so much need V 9 

On August 18 she again writes : " While reading 
your letter there were momentary gleams of light 
shot across my mind, but they were like the first rays 
of morning, possessing no heat, and waking in my 
heart no love to Him who first loved me. Unlike 
the rays of morning, however, they faded from me: 

1 Leaving the chilled earth without form and void, 
Darkened by my own heart.' 

And thus I am not despairing, but deeply, sadly de- 
pressed, with a heart whose fond yearnings have 
hitherto found no satisfying portion, and can find 
none but in God — a mind which has had many fount- 
ains of natural and intellectual enjoyment opened to 
it, and has drunk eagerly of each, and then, with a 
restless dissatisfaction, asked, i And is this all V — a 
spirit which has ever turned from the vain witcheries 
of earth, feeling that there it could find no home or 
resting-place, but which, in its ardent search after 
knowledge, has never come to 4 a knowledge of the 
truth as it is in Jesus.' " 

Several questions here present themselves. Was 
she correct in the views she entertained of her spiritual 
condition ? She was a religious professor ; she was 
evidently the subject of religious emotions ; she was 
esteemed religious. Were her aspirations a morbid 
longing for excitement, or did she really lack the vital 
element of religious character? Was it wise to con- 
duct her so early to the .class-meeting, and particularly 



58 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

so when partial disinclination existed ? How is it to 
be explained that during those nine years of Church- 
fellowship, she remained a seeker of personal religion ? 
What is religion ? It is important to understand 
this. If inward restraint from immorality — if a de- 
gree of interest in the perusal of the Scriptures and 
attending public worship, if desires and purposes to 
be and do right, together with the observance of pri- 
vate prayer, constitute religion, then assuredly she 
was religious. But these do not constitute religion? 
It is more than a form ; it is a vital power, a joyous 
experience. Of this she was assured. She well un- 
derstood that " the end of the commandment is love," 
love that links the heart to Christ in conscious fellow- 
ship ; that merges all aims in the pursuit of his glory, 
and is therefore " out of a pure heart." She read and 
believed that " if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature ; old things are passed away ; behold all 
things are become new." These facts will help us to 
a right determination concerning Miss Hessel's spirit- 
ual state. She was convinced of guilt, and was earn- 
est in her desire to please God, but destitute of the 
assurance of his pardoning love. This, upon the 
authority of his holy word, confirmed by the testi- 
mony of numerous friends, she believed to be her 
privilege. Many of them could confidently attest 
that the Spirit bore witness with their spirit, that 
God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven them, and adopted 
them into his family. She had no reason to question 
their testimony. There was no more reason to charge 
them with fanaticism for asserting, than to impeach 
with ignorance those who disputed this privilege. 



1850.] SPIRITUAL JOY EXPERIENCED. 59 

She felt the need of such a blessing. Possessed of it, 
life would become rich in joy. Destitute of it, she 
must be the victim of slavish fear. Happily, she 
found all she sought. Her spirit exulted in blissful 
consciousness that she was no longer a servant, but 
had become a child of God. With glowing confi- 
dence she could sing, as, thank God! thousands in 
this kingdom can, and as you, dear reader, assuredly 
may: 

" My God is reconciled ; 
His pard'ning voice I near : 
He owns me for his child; 
I can no longer fear : 
With confidence I now draw nigh, 
And Father, Abba, Father, cry?" 

On Thursday the 5th of September, while on a visit 
to her friend in Leeds, the Sun of Righteousness 
poured his vitalizing beams upon her soul. In a letter 
to Miss B., written two days afterward, she supplies 
some interesting particulars : " I have thought of you, 
and prayed for you, that the peace of God which pos- 
sesses the heart of your unworthy friend, may be your 
portion. Yes ! my dear friend, I, even I, have peace 
with God, and 'joy in the Holy Ghost.' By my con- 
versation with Mrs. B., I was led to see that my un- 
belief was more dishonoring to God than any other 
thing. A remark of Miss M.'s impressed me. She 
said : ' You people talk about sorrow for sin, but say 
little of original transgression. Now we are born in 
sin, and the guilt of Adam's transgression is upon us. 
We can scarcely be expected to feel much sorrow for 
what we cannot help ; our condemnation is that we do 



60 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

not seek to have our nature renewed. When " the 
good news " is proclaimed to us, our unbelief must 
be more displeasing to God than even the sins which 
have been the fruits of a depraved nature.' I saw 
this, and felt my mountain of unbelief to be the bar- 
rier between God and my soul. I did not rest on the 
declaration of the Father, that he had given me eter- 
nal life in Christ, and that- 1 had eternal life by believ- 
ing. Now I thought it must come to this : faith must 
come before feeling ; and taking a beautiful hymn 
which Mr. Dunn had sent me, I adopted it as the lan- 
guage of my heart. 

c Just as I am, without one plea, 
But that thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am, and waiting not 
To rid my soul of one dark blot — 
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am, though tossed about 
With many a conflict, many a doubt, 
Fightings within, and fears without— 
Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am Thou dost receive, 

Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, 

Because Thy promise I believe — 

Lamb of God, I come.' 

" Then taking that blessed declaration of Christ : 
' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my 
word, and belie veth on Him that sent me, hath ever- 
lasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but 
is passed from death unto life,' I thought my soul 
must anchor here. I do and will believe it. ' But,' 



1850.] SPIRITUAL CONFLICT. 61 

said the enemy, l where is your feeling V My heart 
replied : c I am saved by faith, and if I never feel more 
peace, if thou art permitted to assault me all my life 
through, and shake my trust and mar my peace, I 
will not drop my hold of this faith. 5 And with the 
Bible open before me, on the fifth and sixth of John, 
I worked on, and cast my eye, ever and a-non, on those 
precious promises, determined the devil should not rob 
me of them. I endeavored to resist every sugges- 
tion, (and every effort to conquer the adversary 
seemed to strengthen me,) until peace began to tran- 
quilize the billows of temptation, and I could sit in 
the dining-room no longer, but ran up stairs to pour 
out my full heart in praise to God. 

" But the conflict was not ended. Satan said, 
4 These are easy terms on which to obtain pardon for 
a life of misdeeds.' Easy ! My soul revolted at the 
thought, and answered : ' I know He bore my sins in 
his own body on the tree. Was his life of suffering, his 
bloody sweat, his death of ignominy and shame, and 
the bitter agony which wrung from his bruised spirit 
that cry w r hich shook earth and heaven, " My God ! 
my God ! why hast thou forsaken me " — was this a 
trifling ransom % And yet that price was paid for my 
redemption, as much as if no other sinner had lived 
to need it.' 

" c But,' said the enemy, c you must not talk about it, 
for this blessing is of such a delicate nature, that if 
you analyze and describe it, it will vanish.' This was 
on Thursday morning, and in the afternoon 1 had en- 
gaged to go with Mrs. E. and Sarah to class. Mrs. 
B. asked me when we got there if I would like to be 



62 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

spoken to, or I had leather not. Sarah interposed and 
said : ' Certainly Miss Hessel will speak.' Well ! the 
conflict was a terrible one. 1 opened my lips, and it 
seemed as if words were put into my mouth, and all 
the while the enemy was telling me they were lies. 
If any one had stood by me, and constantly repeated 
that every word I uttered was a lie, I could not have 
felt more harassed. God, however, verified his prom- 
ise, and honored my faith by strengthening me to 
overcome the enemy. Yesterday was the happiest 
day of my life. To-day I have peace, aye, and joy too. 
I feel inexpressibly happy in writing to you of this 
love, and shall rejoice when I can talk to you of it. 

" God saw not fit that I should receive this blessing 
as I expected. I felt willing, however, to be saved in 
his own way. I cannot refer to any precise moment 
when I stepped out of the kingdom of Satan into the 
kingdom of God. To my perception that exact mo- 
ment was not clear, but it is registered on high, and to 
my mind the, assurance is hourly more strong. There 
is not a promise in the Bible which I cannot claim; 
they are all mine in Christ. The assurance is as sat- 
isfactory as I ever imagined or hoped for ; nay, more 
so. The manner of my obtaining it was not as I ex- 
pected. It was no special or mysterious influence 
which came suddenly upon me. It seemed as though 
God removed every instrument out of the way but his 
own truth and his own Spirit, and they were sufficient. 
O ! Anna, rest your soul on the truth of God ; hope 
against hope. Never look inward for the evidence, 
but rest your hope of salvation on the atonement, and 
believe the Father's declaration that you have life in 



1850.] PRACTICAL EFFECTS. 63 

Christ, that it is given to you in him. The joy and 
peace will soon follow. When you fully trust, you 
will be fully at peace. O ! dear Anna, what a peace 
is this, after the restless, anxious inquiry of years ! 
My language now is : 

1 Now rest, my long-divided heart ; 

Fixed on this blissful center, rest ; 
Nor ever from thy Lord depart : 

With him of every good possessed.' " 

No wonder she should often afterward advert to 
" the memorable 5th of September." It was mem- 
orable, not simply because a fountain of gladness 
was opened in her heart, and blissful prospects were 
unfolded to her spiritual vision, but also because her 
whole moral nature was elevated. Her friends con- 
cur in the testimony that she verified the words of 
Solomon touching the munificence of wisdom : " She 
shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown 
of glory shall she deliver to thee." To a countenance 
naturally pleasing, because replete with intelligence 
and kindness, was added a new charm, the faint re- 
flection of the peace and joy abiding in her heart. 
Her buoyancy was -chastened, and a true womanly 
dignity imparted. 

This change was soon practically manifested. In 
a letter to Mr. Dunn, dated September 23, she says : 
" I thank you very much for your kind letter. It 
came quite ' apropos,' and gladdened my heart. I had 
purposed going to the school in tjie afternoon, which 
I think you know I relinquished about twelve months 
ago, just previously to my father's death and our 
visit to the Isle of Wight. It was always an irksome 



64 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

task to teach in the Sabbath-school, but I was im- 
pressed with the duty, and so took the opportunity 
yesterday of offering services which had previously 
been earnestly solicited in vain. My humble offer- 
ing was accepted with evident surprise and gladness, 
and I recommenced my mission with fear and trem- 
bling. It was indeed barren ground, and my spirits 
well nigh sank when I was placed at the head of four 
or five 'boys' who required somebody authoritative. 
But I found a key to their hearts, and told them just 
enough of c little Bertie 5 to excite their curiosity, and 
promised them more next Sabbath if they remember- 
ed that. And then I came away thankful for the 
self-conquest I had gained over my natural disincli- 
nation to instruct children, and praying that the seed 
sown in weakness might one day bear fruit to Him 
who hath commanded his Church to feed the lambs 
of the flock." 

Reader! has the Saviour who has knocked so lov- 
ingly at the door of thy affections had admission ? 
Has this love of God which at once expands, and 
purifies, and gladdens the heart, been welcomed ? If 
so, await not solicitation to benefit the guilty and 
the ignorant. In the spirit of Him who " came to 
seek and to save that which was lost," discover some 
sphere of holy labor. Does not gratitude excite 
every regenerated person to exclaim: 

" unexampled love ! 

all-redeeming grace ! 
How swiftly didst thou move 

To save a fallen race ! 
What shall I do to make it known, 
What thou for all mankind hast done V 



1850.] HINDERANCES TO EARLIER JOY. 65 

But why did Miss Hessel so long remain a stranger 
to this happy experience'? 

During part of this time, it must be confessed, her 
religion appears to have been formal. u For some 
months past, however, her spiritual energies had been 
thoroughly roused, and yet she remained destitute 
of " the joys of salvation," 

The indistinctness of her conceptions of the plan of 
salvation afford a sufficient explanation. That her 
views should have been indistinct may justly excite 
surprise. Doubtless she supposed' she knew the 
divine method of justifying the ungodly. But how 
often are vague notions dignified with the name of 
knowledge! Who has not experienced a startling 
revelation of this fact, w r hen required to give a definite 
expression to his thoughts'? We can never be truly 
said to possess knowledge until we can give it defin- 
ite expression. Mere assent to truth is not its pos- 
session, apt as we are so to regard it. Whoever 
attempts for the first time to embody sentiments to 
which he has long given an unhesitating consent, will 
probably find that his view's are far from being as 
clear as he expected. 

As her perplexities are not uncommon they shall 
be briefly discussed. She informs Mr. Dunn that she 
" prayed for repentance." If repentance was expected 
solely in answer to prayer, as would appear, here is 
evidence of defective views. While to produce heart- 
felt contrition is the prerogative of the Holy Spirit, 
and he is promised to them that ask him, it is re- 
quired of us to ponder the facts fitted to produce 
that state. Repentance is a duty to be performed, 



66 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

as well as a grace to be received. Dost thou lament, 
reader, the hardness of thine heart? Turn thy men- 
tal eye to the goodness of that God, who, notwith- 
standing thy provocation, has granted thee unnumber- 
ed daily blessings; and, above ail, to that ".amazing 
love " he has displayed in offering himself an atoning 
victim for thy sins ; then shalt thou say with Jere- 
miah : " Mine eye affecteth mine heart." Sorrow is 
as truly an effect of the contemplation of appropriate 
facts as gratitude or any other emotion. " They shall 
look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they 
shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only 
son." 

She grieved that her "repentance was not suffi- 
ciently deep." Scripture prescribes no standard to 
measure the feeling necessary to genuine repentance. 
Reader, art thou really sorry for thy sin ? Does it 
grieve thee to have grieved thy loving God ? Art 
thou solicitous to be delivered from every habit, pur- 
pose, and desire opposed to his will ? And dost thou 
regard his approval as thy chief good 1 Spend not 
one moment, then, in attempts to measure thy 
amount of sorrow. Is it not enough that thy heaven- 
ly Father is willing to receive thee just as thou art? 
h not that willingness expressed in the very fact of 
thy sorrow 1 for who but he, by his Holy Spirit, put 
thee in possession of it 1 Haste, then, instantly to 
the offended One. " I Jim that cometh unto me," says 
he, " I will in no wise cast out." "Behold the Lamb 
of God which taketh away the sin of the world." If 
he took away the sin of the world then he took away 
thy sin. The apostle Paul appropriated the love of 



1850.] HINDERANCES TO EARLIER JOY. 67 

Christ, and thus set an example to every penitent. 
Ponder the declaration : " Pie loved me, and gave 
himself for me" Repeat it a hundred, if need be a 
thousand times. The utterance of the truth to be 
believed is of great help in strengthening faith. 

^ I have regarded faith as some effort of mind." 
What intelligent penitent does not experience per- 
plexity on the subject of faith? Very generally it 
arises from inattention to this fact : that the Al- 
mighty, in his wondrous goodness, has devised a 
method of salvation apprehensible to the most illiter- 
ate. " Look unto me and be saved," is the exhor- 
tation of Holy Writ. Salvation is the divinely or- 
dained result of looking to Christ. For the steadfast 
maintenance of this act great effort will generally be 
necessary, for one of these two reasons : his knowl- 
edge of the divine purity necessarily directs the 
attention of an intelligent penitent to the magnitude 
of his guilt, and great effort is required to withdraw 
attention from himself and fix it solely on the Sav- 
iour. He who is un assailed by this temptation will 
often feel a solicitude to experience the results of 
faith, which may divert attention from its object. In 
no other respect is faith to be regarded as an effort. 
In conquering the rebellious will and softening the 
obdurate heart, the Holy Spirit has made the sinner a 
suitable recipient of God's mercy, and so far from 
that mercy being difficult of attainment it is made 
attainable in the easiest possible method. The mo- 
ment the good news of pardon through what Christ 
has done for me is welcomed, the moment that I 
accept him as my Saviour, the Divine Spirit sheds 
5 



68 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA IIES3EL. [1850. 

abroad the love of God within my heart, and attests 
my adoption into his family. 

It is a feeling natural to the penitent, that pardon 
for sin so great as his cannot be expected without 
something great being done by him. Here is the 
glorious truth, however, which has simply to be be- 
lieved by the truly contrite sinner in order to experi- 
ence salvation : by sparing not his own Son, but 
delivering him up a sin-offering for us all, God has so 
effectually declared his abhorrence of transgression, 
and his determination to punish it, as to render it 
consistent with his holiness and justice to pardon all 
that truly repent. As I gaze on that dying Saviour I 
see, not only these glorious truths, but also the amaz- 
ing love of God to man, to me ; and contemplating 
this fact the Holy Spirit makes it the instrument of 
niy moral renovation. I &ni constrained to love him 
who thus loved me, 

"A tendency was felt to expect salvation, because 
she prayed for it." What penitent has not felt this % 
If, however, I am truly penitent, and wish to surrender 
to God my will, my affections, and every energy of 
my nature, this is his message to me : " To him that 
worketh not," that neither reads nor prays with a view 
to merit salvation, " but belie veth on Him that justi- 
fieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous- 
ness. " 

Reader! thou hast no righteousness. Nothing thou 
oanst do can procure thee any. in the exuberance of 
his goodness, God has provided it for thee in Christ 
Jesus, and " thy faith," if godly sorrow possess thy 
heart, " is counted to thee for righteousness." 



1850.] IMPORTANCE OF RELIGIOUS TRAINING. 69 

Miss Hessel's long spiritual pupilage is a suggestive 
fact for class leaders. The interchange of Christian 
experience is calculated to yield immense benefit. 
The magnitude of the benefit, however, depends greatly 
upon the intelligence as well as piety of the leader. 
If mere stereotyped phrases are periodically repro- 
duced, the profit will be meager. The benefit of a 
mere emotional stimulation is questionable. But if, 
with such skill as a devout and diligent student of the 
Bible will assuredly acquire, and such fidelity and 
kindness as love to Christ inspires, the conscience is 
dealt with — aroused or instructed as the case may 
require — the class-meeting becomes an invaluable 
auxiliary to the public means of grace. That it was 
not instrumental in conducting her to an earlier expe- 
rience of the blessedness and " power of godliness " is 
to be regretted. Let it not be supposed, however, 
that she derived no benefit. It was with somewhat 
of reluctance she commenced ; but her voluntary con- 
tinuance for so long a period compels us to regard 
her reluctance as originating chiefly in timidity. To 
feel that she was within the care of the Church, and 
to dread quenching the Spirit of God, were surely no 
small benefits, were no others experienced, and these, 
she confesses, kept her there. 

The momentous fact here detailed was the consum- 
mation of her religious training. What an army of 
young recruits would every year be entering the ser- 
vice of our Saviour King, if domestic influences were 
spiritual 1 Does it not become the professedly relig- 
ious parent of every unconverted child to ponder the 
inquiry : " Why is my child yet unconverted ?" Par- 



70 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

ents ! if jour solicitude for Christ's honor and your 
children's highest welfare was what it ought to be, 
would not your children be converted? could they 
withstand the combined influences arising from your 
devout spirit and importunate prayers ? Is it not be- 
cause your spirit is not sufficiently devout, that theirs 
is so worldly 1 Do we not behold in the character 
of our children, generally, the reflection of our own? 
Surely it becomes parents and pastors earnestly to 
inquire what is to be done to secure the young for 
Christ. Their claim on the attention of the Church 
is, at the present day, urgent and imperative. 

To determine how far it may be prudent to urge 
young persons to unite themselves to a Christian 
Church, demands great wisdom. By no means should 
they be urged merely to gratify their friends. A 
complete revulsion against religion might be the re- 
sult. To abandon them to their own promptings, 
however, is to deprive them of " the nurture " their 
Lord prescribes. 

The importance of an evangelical, faithful, earnest, 
and instructive ministry is inculcated by Miss Hes- 
sel's history. The truths she listened to from the 
pulpit are frequently adverted to as having contributed 
to kindle and invigorate her noblest aspirations. 



1850.] THE SURE FOUNDATION". 71 



CHAPTER IV. 

Spiritual Experience — The Right View of Trials — The Sadness 
caused by a Review of a Misspent Life — The Colosseum in 
London — Marriage of her Brother — Life of Mrs. Sherman — 
Visits Bristol — Chatterton — " The Ocean " — Young's Night 
Thoughts — Bazar at Boston-Spa — Mrs. Stowe — Thoughts 
suggested by a Rainbow — Humiliating Acknowledgements — 
Thankfulness — Intellectual Pride — The seventh Vial — Moral 
Evil ■ — The Importance of spending Life well. 

Recent converts commonly expect uninterrupted sun- 
shine. No cloud of temptation is to darken it. There 
is no reason to believe that such were Miss Hessel's 
expectations, and there is ample evidence that her ex- 
periences were far otherwise. " My new-born confi- 
dence was so vigorously assailed by the enemy of 
souls," she writes on Sept. 24, " that I have since 
wondered how I maintained it. But the trial of my 
faith was precious in His sight whose strong arm 
sustained me, and I met every attack with, ' Thus 
saith the Lord.' And when almost overwhelmed by 
temptation, my soul said, I rest on the word of eter- 
nal truth, not on any amount of peace or joy I have 
or may have, God declares that I am saved through 
faith in the blood of the atonement. By two immu- 
table things— his word and his oath — he hath con- 
firmed that declaration ; and I have ground therefore 
for strong consolation. I dare not make God a liar. 
I must believe his word. Thus hanging on the truth 
of the Gospel I realized that peace which passeth un- 



72 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

derstanding ; that knowledge of salvation by the 
remission of sins which 1 feel to be the greatest 
blessing of my life. It was no overwhelming display 
to my soul ; it was the gradual rising of the Sun of 
righteousness on my darkened spirit. Many clouds 
flitted before the brightness of his shining, but hav- 
ing caught one beam from the center of that glorious 
sun, my eye of faith was fixed there until the clouds 
dispersed and the shadows fled away, and my spiritual 
vision was strengthened to read, in characters of light 
upon every sunbeam, some precious promise of eter- 
nal truth. And that light, shedding its rays through 
my heart, revealed, written there by the finger of 
God, ' Therefore being justified by faith, I have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' " 

Unless we are to discredit her testimony, or believe 
her to be the victim of delusion, Miss Hessel experi- 
enced the undoubting consciousness of her acceptance 
with God. And why should not all persons desirous 
of pleasing him experience the same blessing? He 
is no respecter of persons. Surely it will be admitted 
to lie within the boundary of that gracious promise : 
" If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
your children, how much more will your heavenly 
Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask himf 
The Almighty deems it no honor to expect little from 
him. Those who make the largest demands on his 
benevolence honor him most. Assuredly the sole 
reason of any person, earnestly desirous of a knowl- 
edge of salvation, not experiencing it is, that from 
some mental or physical cause it is not expected. 
" He that believeth hath everlasting life." 



1850.] EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 78 

Her conscientiousness and wisdom are exhibited in 
the record she makes on October 13: "I am some- 
times sorely harassed with the reflection that I have 
sinned and I cannot remember how. Sometimes the 
circumstance, but not its particulars, comes to my 
memory, and I torture myself with brooding over 
what I cannot find out ; at one time fancying the un- 
easiness I experience to be temptation, at another con- 
demnation. Whatever it may be, I bring it all to the 
Cross, and find my burden grows light while gazing 
on the face of Him who hung there for my trans- 
gression." 

One of her friends who had had the inestimable priv- 
ilege of a religious training, had long been the subject 
of earnest spiritual aspirations. By a law of our 
social nature Miss Hessel now felt solicitous she 
should experience a consummation similar to her own. 
Apprehending her obstacle to be one common to pen- 
itents, she says, October 24 : "I think I understand 
your difficulty. You are afraid to come and call God 
'Father' in your present state. You think it would 
be presumption. You think there is nothing in your 
present state of feeling analagous to that of a child. 
But you must trust before expecting to feel. If you 
feel ever so much you will never be one jot more 
welcome than you are just now." 

" I cannot depend upon my frames and feelings," 
she writes on November 10; "the life I now live in 
the flesh must be by the faith of the Son of God. I 
am tempted to think God requires of me a service 
which I am not in a state of health to perform. It 



74 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

must be a temptation, for my loving and merciful 
Father would not do that. He knoweth my frame ; 
he remembereth I am dust. O how grateful to my 
poor heart is this declaration ! My mind is so wan- 
dering that I have great difficulty in fixing it on any 
subject for many minutes at a time ; and when I 
kneel at the footstool of mercy I can scarcely express 
a want, and yet I want everything. O how much 
of sin and infirmity clings to my holiest offerings! I 
should indeed despair did I not look up to God 
through Christ, and feel that he regarded me in the 
face of his Son. Sometimes I see and contemplate 
my own sinfulness, and the vileness of my service, 
and then for one overwhelming moment 

c I caught the sight of Him 
Before whose glance the heavens grow dim.' 

But Jesus comes between the awful majesty of heaven 
and the worm of earth, and shows himself as the 
manifestation of the Father's love to me. Yes ! holy, 
and majestic, and fearful as is the character of God, 
he loves all the creatures of his care, and more 
especially those to whom his Son has become the 
acknowledged and received embodiment of his eter- 
nal love. Surely the language of my heart ought 
to be that of exultation. And yet, through bodily 
suffering and consequent mental depression, my 
cry too often is, ' O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake 
for me.'" 

December 25 : " To-day has been one of no ordinary 
trial. After a sleepless night — one of intense pain 
and ceaseless tossings — my nervous debilitv rendered 



1850.] UNAPPKECIATED WOETH. 75 

me doubly unfitted for the severe mental exercises I 
have been called to endure. It seemed but the climax 
to a long series of chafing annoyances and wearying 
trial which the grace of God alone could have enabled 
me to sustain with composure. ' My grace is suffi- 
cient for thee,' has been to me a bright star in many 
a dark moment. And never did I feel the fullness of 
that blessed promise, ' He giveth more grace,' as I 
have felt it to-day. More grace — ever more, every 
accumulation of trial only heightens the value without 
diminishing the treasury of that grace — ever more. 

" I have dwelt much to-day on a thought of Elihu 
Burritt's, the sense of which is, that when the history 
of hovels and garrets shall be published before an 
assembled world at that last grand audit where all 
must appear — when private histories, hid from the 
world in the unnoticed circle of domestic life, shall be 
brought out and scrutinized, and rewarded by inflex- 
ible and unerring justice — many a character despised 
and neglected by men will shine forth with a glory 
and brightness, a sublimity of true Christian heroism, 
before which all that the world esteems noble and 
heroic will fade away and be as nothing. The meek- 
ness and patience, the long suffering, the silent yet 
ceaseless aspirations after conformity to His likeness 
who was meek and lowly in heart, which the world 
heeds not, will then be seen to have an everlasting 
record, and an everlasting reward. 

" Some spirits seemed formed to cope with great 
trials, to gather strength and flourish w T hen the storm 
is high and the tempest furious, while the lesser per- 
plexities of life chafe, and blight, and wither them. 



76 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1850. 

Such I thought was mine." The circumstances 
through which she was now passing excited a doubt 
whether she had not previously misjudged herself. 
Not being acquainted with them, the writer can neither 
affirm nor deny. Supposing she had, however, he 
would suggest whether the fact of her non-relationship 
to that order of spirits furnished just cause of regret. 
The spirit that succumbs to " the lesser perplexities 
of life" evinces that the conquest it gains over the 
greater ones is the result of natural heroism rather 
than of spiritual power. Valuable as is this quality, 
does not its possession diminish the incentive to seek 
spiritual power? And as that is incomparably more 
valuable, and as the lesser perplexities are of much 
more frequent occurrence, the ability to cope with 
them is surely the more enviable gift. 

Earnestly would the writer solicit attention to the 
view she sets forth of the salutary design of every 
portion of the discipline through which we are called 
to pass. The recognition of this fact in the hour of 
trial would often prove a sweet cordial. The senti- 
ment was not new to her, but it appears to have suf- 
fered the fate to which all such sentiments are liable — 
that of temporary obscuration. " When the light of 
divine truth shone more clearly on my mind, and I 
was led from my heart to say, 

4 Whate'er my Father wills is best;' 

when, by faith, I caught a glance of the future, and 
' saw heaven opened/ and beheld in juxtaposition 
' the light afflictions ' and the 4 far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory,' and felt that infinite wisdom 



1851.] DIVINE CULTURE. 77 

arranged every link of the intricate chain, and infinite 
love watched with unwearying eye the purifying 
process, then I knew that God in very faithfulness had 
allotted me just the very trials most calculated to 
benefit me now, and add to my reward hereafter. I 
pray that I may distill from each one all the salutary 
influence it is designed to impart. I trust I shall. I 
do feel to hang with more of self-abandonment on 
Christ as my Saviour, and to look up to my heavenly 
Father with more childlike dependence." 

After some days of suffering, from which she was 
recovering, she writes to Miss W., of Skipton, Janu- 
ary 21, 1851 : "I sometimes think that some of us 
would never be made meet for heaven at all if we 
were not made ' meet through suffering.' How di- 
versified are the modes of cultivation which God 
employs, and how suited to our different tempera- 
ments ! Just as the skillful husbandman adapts his 
cultivation to the soil, so our heavenly Father applies 
such culture as is best suited to cause us to yield 
fruit which shall redound to his glory, and our future 
happiness. 

" I have just been reading a very interesting work, 
called c Ellen Walsingham ; or, growth in Grace.^ 
Should you meet with it, you will do well to read it. 
I am also reading 'Festus.' It is an extraordinary 
production, has some splendid passages, but such a 
heterogeneous mass of error as destroys much of the 
pleasure. The drift of the poem is this : all spirit 
will finally be absorbed in God ; the devils themselves 
will be pardoned, and thus absorbed ; so that God 
shall be sole-existent, as he was ere the work of crea- 



78 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

tion began. Fatalism and unalterable decrees are 
prominent. 

" I have lately been reading c Father Darcy,' a work 
which exhibits the secret workings of that abominable 
system of priestcraft which resulted in the gigantic 
and horrible scheme of the ' Gunpowder Plot.' How 
noble minds and lofty intellects — great spirits which 
not a world could bow— souls capable of angel-deeds 
of mercy and mighty acts of heroism, when rightly 
influenced and directed, such as Catesby's and Sir 
Everard Digby's — how such mighty spirits were per- 
verted, corrupted, and schooled by Jesuits sent from 
Rome, who taught obedience to the Church as a su- 
preme virtue, until their minds concocted that black 
assassination which the special providence of God 
alone averted ! O Rome, Rome ! faithfully have thy 
priesthood served the archenemy in performing the 
foulest crimes, in making every holy thing subserve 
thy interest by the most unhallowed means." 

" I am wondering how you get on," she writes, on 
February 3, to a young friend, who had recently left 
the village to occupy a new but important sphere of 
usefulness. " I hope you are happy in your present 
lot. An inspired and therefore unerring writer affirms, 
that ' godliness with contentment is great gain.' I 
trust you possess both these in an eminent degree. 
How much we often make our happiness dependent 
on circumstances, when it ought to be wholly inde- 
pendent of them ! O had we but correct views of 
the great end of human existence, were we always 
careful to fill up the outline marked for us by Infinite 



1851.] VALUE OF TIME. 79 

Wisdom, how little of the canker and rust, which so 
often corrode our spirits, should we contract ! 

" My own mind has, for some time, been painfully 
affected by a sense of having trifled with that precious 
boon, time. How little we think of its value ! O 
how sad to sit at twilight — that season when thought, 
bidden or unbidden, will come — and reflect on hours 
misspent, hours that not a world could buy back, 
which are chronicled in the archives of heaven, whence 
no recording angel's pen may be permitted to blot 
them out ! Truly 

1 'Tis a mournful story, 
Thus on the ear of pensive eve to tell 
Of morning's firm resolves, the vanished glory ; 
Hope's honey left to wither in the bell, 
And plants of mercy dead, that might have bloomed so well.' 

But a yet more mournful story may fall on our ears 
and hearts with a crushing weight in life's twilight, 
between the day of this life and the darkness in which 
it will surely be quenched. And O in that sad twi- 
light, for conscience to listen to the story of a life 
frittered away in busy nothingness, and all too surely 
feel that to redeem the time would now 'be a vain 
attempt ! May you and I be more than ever im- 
pressed with the value of this gift, for which we shall 
assuredly be called to render account !" 

After mentioning some spiritual trials, she proceeds : 
" How much we need the wisdom which cometh from 
above ! But how encouraging are the promises of 
God with reference to all needful grace ! There is a 
day coming when all these dark spots in our history 
will be illumined ; when these hidden and mysterious 



80 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

links, by which all that has made up our life was 
connected, will be uncovered ; and, if we fulfill our 
part, how beautiful and harmonious will that chain 
appear! Already as we advance in the Christian 
course we begin to understand ' the why and the 
wherefore' of many things which but lately were 
inexplicable. Just as the Alpine traveler, in his up- 
ward course, sees more and more of the landscape 
below till he reaches the summit, and, standing on its 
topmost height, sees the whole in all its variety and 
beauty, with every winding path by which he has been 
conducted, and feels that his own wisdom would not 
have guided him thither by that path ; so shall we, 
when standing by the side of our heavenly guide, see 
and feel that all our wanderings in the wilderness, by 
paths we knew not, were necessary for our well-being. 
" I often think of my feelings when, after a toilsome 
ascent to the top of the Colosseum in London, a vast 
panorama of Paris . burst upon my view. Every 
object in that stupendous work of art was as distinct 
as possible. We were supposed to see the whole 
from a balloon, and had the moon and stars for our 
companions — the rays of the former continually danc- 
ing on and illuminating the dark waters which sur- 
rounded the walls of the Bastile. Every individual 
in the thronging streets was as clearly defined, and as 
distinctly seen, as the thousand domes and towers 
which lifted their heads in the brilliant light of the 
moon, and the ten thousand glowing lamps of the 
city. Every home of private life was as visible as 
that scene of startling revolutionary power which 
thrilled all Europe, and crushed a mighty monarchy 



185L] THE COLOSSEUM. 81 

in a few brief hours. All this the eye took in at a 
glance — with such power had genius invested a mortal. 
I cannot tell you how many useful lessons I learned 
while leaning on the balcony which surrounded the 
Colosseum dome. Certainly my spirit derived a 
newborn confidence in the providence of Him to whose 
eye the vast panorama of worlds is open, and to whom 
nothing in his creation is either great or small. It is 
difficult often to account for the impressions made on 
the mind through the medium of the senses, or to 
trace the subtle and mysterious process of thought 
and analogy. 

" But my paper admonisheth me to close this 
rambling scrawl. Like Mark Antony in speaking, I 
have written ' straight on,' and you must take, just as 
they come, the thoughts which have oozed through my 
pen from that heterogeneous mass of complicated 
mysteries, 'yclept my brain." 

February 21 : " It becometh me to sing of mercy 
and deliverance. I have had distressing conflicts 
lately, and often have I feared that the light within 
me would become darkness. It has seemed some 
times as though the enemy possessed the power of 
perverting my judgment and obscuring my mental 
vision, and in this state the atonement, as the only 
ground of my salvation, has been hid from my view, 
and my own obedience to the law of God has been 
exalted in its place. My deficiency in fulfilling that 
law became a source of great and harassing disquietude 
until it pleased God to rebuke the enemy, and then I 
saw again that the precious blood of the Lord Jesus 



82 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

Christ must be my glory, and that by faith he was 
made unto me ' righteousness, and sanctification, and 
redemption.' It is only when forgetting the ground 
of my confidence, that darkness and perplexity and 
fear come upon me." 

The following brief extract from a letter to Mr. B. 
reveals a characteristic appreciation of kindness. 

February 26 : " Since I saw you I have been very 
poorly, and on Tuesday had another, and I hope the 
last, remnant of these buried antiquities excavated 
from the depths of my poor lacerated gums. I haven't 
read Mr. Layard's Nineveh ; although I have seen the 
Nineveh sculptures which he has sent to the British 
Museum, which may account for my talking of antiq- 
uities and excavations. Well, all these rather un- 
pleasant tests of my courage have left me very feeble 
and ' shaky,' with an aspenlike propensity to be very 
tremulous, and a strong predilection for fancying I 
cannot work, etc. In a word, I feel as though I were 
recovering from a month's wasting illness, so com- 
plete has been the prostration of my strength. The 
ladies came to the Bible-class on Monday night, but I 
was in bed; and your s>ster Hannah, with the com 
passion of an angel, came and sat by me for an hour 
and a half, although Mr. and Mrs. S. were at your 
house to tea." 

" I have passed through much bodily suffering 
lately," she writes for private perusal, March 2, 
" which has tended to depress my spirit, but amid it 
all I have been able to recognize my heavenly Fa- 
ther's tenderness and care. I know that nothing which 



1851.] PHYSICAL PEOSTRATIOK. 83 

concerns me, however small, is beneath his notice; 
and I have not shrunk from bringing my weakness and 
fears to a throne of grace, and asking for physical 
strength to enable me to undergo the severe treatment 
to which I have been subject. x\nd in the hour when 
that strength and courage were most needed, a hand 
divine supplied it; and while others wondered, I only 
felt that ' when I was weak, then I was strong ' in a 
strength not my own. My mind too has been pre- 
served from those reasonings and doubts which not 
long ago perplexed me, and that blessed record of 
God's will to me has possessed additional value. I 
have dwelt much on that blessed declaration of my 
Saviour to his disciples : ' If ye continue in my word 
then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free.' 

" This morning, while reading the eighth chapter of 
Romans, the second verse seemed invested with special 
interest, and came home to my heart as a full and suf- 
ficient answer to all the temptations with which Satan 
has been permitted to assail me with reference to the 
value of the atonement : ' For the law of the Spirit of 
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of 
sin and death.' Thus I saw more than ever clearly the 
vast superiority of that glorious dispensation which 
Christ introduced, when, clothed in our nature, he came 
to make that atonement which the ceremonial law had 
so long typified." 

With invigorated, though by no means robust health, 
her brother had entered, in the preceding autumn, upon 
a new sphere of ministerial duty in the city of Bristol. 
6 



84 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

He contemplated the consummation of an interesting 
engagement with a lady resident there. To this sis- 
ter-elect Miss Hessel writes, in strains which suffering 
prompted, March 5 : " I expect great pleasure from 
knowing you, and if I have not been very enthusiastic 
in the expression of my feelings, it is because I have 
learned to look on all things ' not as in the hour of 
thoughtless youth,' but with the eye of one who has 
known many changes and vicissitudes, and not a few 
disappointments, and whose spirit has been chastened 
and subdued by a course of severe but salutary disci- 
pline. What a spirit like my own might have been 
without all this, and the influences of the religion of 
Him who was ' meek and lowly in heart,' I tremble 
to contemplate. Whither all its daring aspirations, 
its wild and restless dreams of ambition, and its fitful 
and uncertain exhibitions of power might have tended, 
I know not. I can only rejoice that I have been 
stricken in Fatherly love, and * taught by signs and 
sufferings ' what nothing else could have taught me." 
The celebration of her brother's marriage was fixed 
for the 12th, and on that day she writes to him: "I 
suppose by this time you are married, I hope you 
have not found the unfavorable morning damp your 
spirits, whatever it may have done your dresses. 
After such a glorious day as we had yesterday, I was 
not prepared for the rain which unfortunately for you 
has set in. I am hoping it may be less unpleasant at 
Bristol. After all it is not of material consequence. 
Though the sunshine without is very delightful, and 
often makes the senses almost giddy with its joyous 
radiance, yet the sunshine of the heart is of more 



1851.] VISITS THE BRIDAL PAIR. 85 

value, and that I hope both yourself and she who is 
now indissolubly one with you possess. I can only 
add to my most earnest wishes for your happiness, 
my fervent prayers for your future weal, and your in- 
creased usefulness in the Church of God. Give my 
love to Sarah, and tell her how much I desire that she 
should be the means of sustaining and improving your 
character as a Christian minister and ptstor. If she 
has not read Mrs. Sherman's life, I ani sure she will 
be delighted with it. Perhaps no woman could be 
found whose example in every respect is better worthy 
of imitation. Gentle and retiring, ' every inch a wo- 
man,' yet all the powers of a highly cultivated and 
richly stored mind were brought to bear on the 
elevation of her husband's piety and ministerial char- 
acter, and the interests of the Church over w T hich he 
was pastor. May you be blessed in each other, and 
to each other, and be made a blessing wherever your 
lot is cast." 

Early in May she visited the bridal pair. On the 
21st she writes to her friend Mrs. S. : "I have enjoyed 
my visit very much so far. I like my new sister and 
her family, but I can better describe her in tete-a-tete 
than in a letter." 

In a letter to Miss G., and another to Miss N., 
written next day, she reveals her strong sympathy 
with genius : " We are close to RedclifFe Church, per- 
haps the finest parish church I ever saw. It is con- 
stantly open, and visitors are freely admitted. We 
spent a pleasant hour there yesterday, and purpose 
going again. The sculpture, monumental brasses, and 
some immense paintings by Hogarth, together with 



86 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

the armor of Sir William Penn, and the tattered flags 
which were used in the Revolution, all furnish subjects 
of deep interest to such a relic-lover as myself. Then 
we mounted the leads, and reverently entered Chatter- 
ton's room, saw the identical old oak chests from 
which he professed to bring forth the poems of Thomas 
Rowley, the monk, but which were, in fact, the pro- 
ductions of his own extraordinary genius. The sad 
history of the young poet seemed all to pass before 
me ; the scorn which was poured upon him for that 
one sad departure from truth; the utter neglect in 
which he was left to pine by those who should have 
nursed the bud of promise ; and the melancholy end 
to which he came, when despair had done her work 
upon him. His statue at one time adorned the church, 
but many objected to it. Very little is said of him. 
Anything like eager curiosity to know more of his 
daily life is at once checked, and the old oak chests 
alone remain, in their mouldering silence, to tell of his 
wrongs and errors, and the bitter, pinching poverty 
which quenched the glorious light of such a spirit in 
everlasting darkness." 

On the 28th she writes to Miss S. R. : "I have seen 
but little of the country compared with what I am to 
see, but I have had two most delightful drives with 
Mrs. H. to Clifton and Cooke's Folly. From the lat- 
ter place there is a magnificent view of the channel 
and the Welsh mountains; and down at Portshead, 
whither we are going some day, it looks as if one 
could shake hands with our Welsh neighbors across 
the channel. Clifton, and the scenery around, is beau- 
tiful, and you cannot help thinking it ' bright as aught 



1851. ] BRISTOL. 87 

in fairy dreams.' As I stood in Cooke's Folly, the 
glorious sunset tinged the mountains and bathed the 
whole landscape in a flood of golden light, reminding 
one, in its effects on the channel, of one part of the 
vision of the Apocalypse, ' a sea of glass mingled with 
fire.' Uninspired words are too poor to describe it. 

! you would have loved to wander with me through 
dear old Reclcliffe Church, to have ascended the spiral 
staircase, and stood amid the crumbling oak chests 
where poor Chatterton spent his boyish hours, and 
through the loopholes of such a retreat have gazed 
upon the busy world ! But I am not going to write 
about Chatterton. It makes me melancholy to think 
of him, and few people sympathize with my feelings 
for the man whom his fellow-townsmen would disown 
if they could, who lived a lie and died a suicide. But 

1 think of him as he might have been, a glorious sun, 
whose moral and intellectual radiance would have 
gilded the world, had some kind hand been found to 
lead him to the source of all true knowledge and hap- 
piness." 

Her visit, intended for a few weeks, was protracted 
beyond four months. How greatly she enjoyed it 
two brief sentences to her friend in Leeds sufficiently 
attest. They were written on September 13, a few 
days before she left : " I have much to tell you of 
dear old Bristol, the city of the west, and its noble 
children. God bless them for the love and heart- 
warm kindness they have shown to a stranger and so- 
journer within their walls," 

Having expressed her purpose to visit this friend 
shortly, she adds; "While I write, a thousand 



88 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

thoughts flit through my mind of the hallowed hours 
which, last year at this time, I spent under your roof. 
Twelve months have now elapsed since your house 
was daguerreotyped in my memory as my spiritual 
birthplace, and shall I come again, after the lapse of 
a year, with all its vicissitudes, to set up my Ebenezer 
on the spot which is hallowed in my heart beyond 
every other spot in the world V 9 

With an eye for the grand as well as the beautiful 
in nature, it could not be expected that she would 
reside so long in a seaport town, and become familiar 
with the varied moods of " old ocean," without having 
her sensibilities powerfully excited. Whether she 
had ever attempted to clothe them in rhyme while at 
Scarborough, or whether she had been repelled by the 
vastness of the theme, I cannot say. She was bold 
enough to make the attempt at Bristol, however, and 
the result will interest her personal friends at all 
events. 

THE OCEAN. 

And the gathering together of the waters called he Seas.— G-en. i, lG. 

Thou mighty ocean, rolling on 

In pomp and power for evermore ; 
From clime to clime thy sound hath gone, 

From shore to echoing shore ; 
A type of that which cannot die, 
A symbol of eternity. 

Heard was thy voice when first the earth 

From her primeval chaos sprang ; 
While yet the glory of her birth ■ 

The morning stars together sang ; 
As darkness from his throne was hurled, 
And sunlight flashed upon the world. 



1851.] THE OCEAN. 89 

Time, that hath crumbled to the ground 
The towers that swept the far-off sky, 

And spread stern desolation round 
Beneath his withering eye, 

Hath looked on thee in calm despair, 

And never wreaked his vengeance there, 

Thou wert a wonder evermore, 

Thou art a thing of wonder still ; 
Unsolved by depth of human lore, 

Unpierced by mortal skill ; 
With the sublimest mystery fraught, 
• Deeper than all the depths of thought* 

Thou mighty one ! thou goest forth 

On thine unwearied way alone, 
A journey er to the ends of earth, 

To distant lands unknown ; 
Banging the desert wastes untrod, 
Unsearched but by the eye of God. 

Betain thy gems and jewels rare, 
To blaze within thy caverns' shrine ; 

But earth's lost children slumbering therej 
Ocean, were never thine ! 

Give back from thine unfathomed bed ! 

Thou shalt not keep thy numerous dead. 

A voice shall wake them from their sleep, 
From thy lone depths the dead shall call ; 

Heaven's final thunders on the deep 
In awful wrath shall fall. 

Boll on in thine unconquered sway, 

Thou art the creature of a day. 

When suns shall vanish from the skies, 
When stars shall sink in dim decay, 

When with a great, portentous noise, 
Heaven, earth, and sea shall pass away, 

The winds that sweep the swelling wave 3 

Shall sing the dirge above thy grave. 



90 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

" I wonder how it is," she writes privately on No- 
vember 2, " I often ask myself the question, that 
after all the displays of God's free, unmerited good- 
ness toward me, I so frequently peruse the record of 
his love with indifference. No light seems to shine 
on the sacred page, the w T ords make little or no im- 
pression on my heart. How callous that heart must 
be ! Every sentence of that blessed word is an ema- 
nation of the Sun of righteousness, and yet it fails 
to warm and cheer. Is it possible, I ask myself, as 1 
remember how I have read that Book, that I can trace 
characters which are the record of my heavenly 
Father's love and remain unmoved % O God the 
Father, who hath loved me ; God the Son, who hath 
redeemed me ; God the Holy Ghost, who hath sealed 
me, I trust, unto the day of redemption, have mercy 
upon me ! I stand astonished at the love which has 
not given me over to hardness of heart. 

' Jesus, thou art all compassion, 
Pure, unbounded love thou art.' 

" Unbounded ! or it would not have so long spared 
me who have so long cumbered the ground. I come 
to the mercy-seat, even as at first I came, with 

' No other hope, no other plea, 
Jesus hath lived, hath died for me.' 

" On this blessed Sabbath evening I renew my 
vows of consecration : 

' This day the covenant I sign, 

The bond of pure and perfect peace ; 
Nor can I doubt, its power divine, 

Since sealed with Jesus' blood it is ; 
The blood I take, the blood alone, 
And make the cov'nant peace my own.' " 



1851.] YOUNG'S NIGHT THOUGHTS. 91 

With a view to their mutual improvement, Miss 
Hessel and her attached friend at Leeds had wisely 
agreed to read the same works at the same time as 
frequently as practicable, and compare notes of their 
criticisms. Young's Night Thoughts was now in 
hand. "Many thanks, my dear girl," she writes on 
November 9, " for the packet which came so season- 
ably on Saturday morning. I have been so much 
occupied with ' the basket,' and other things, that I 
have read but little of Young. However, in conning 
the first, and part of the second, ' night,' I have found 
many a passage which my girlish admiration, long 
years ago, led me to pencil, and which my taste now, 
true to early instincts, most admires. Some of them 
are those you quote. This coincidence has gratified 
me. It would require more time than I have this 
afternoon to tell you my thinkings on these sublime 
and often startling ' Thoughts.' I am strongly 
tempted to delay my communication until another 
day, but it occurs to me that I have read Young to 
little purpose if I have not learned that 

c Thoughts shut up want air, 
And spoil, like bales unopened to the sun.' 

Even 'good sense will stagnate,' and as I am not 
overburdened with either the one or the other, I will 
endeavor to make use of what I have, and may be 
I shall acquire more in the effort. 

" I may tell you that I admire the paragraph be- 
ginning ' Know'st thou, Lorenzo ! what a friend con- 
tains V and also that on the next page, * Celestial 



92 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1851. 

happiness,' etc. I think I need scarcely repeat to you 
now that 

' True love strikes root in reason, passion's foe.' 

I find I have read part of the third ' night,' and have 
shuddered at the awful spectacle of human depravity 
which is suggested by 

1 That hideous sight, a naked human heart.' 

" And now turn we from what you have aptly 
termed a mine of mental wealth, for just a word on 
the huge volume lying before me, 'Southey's Works 
Complete.' Mr. W. brought it me the other night, 
and read us the greater part of ' The Curse of Ke- 
hama.' 'Tis a strange, wild tale, founded on the 
mythology of that vast, strange, and to me, fascinating 
country, India. I think I like it best of all the poems 
of that mighty minstrel, who 'sang of Thalaba, the 
wild and wondrous tale.' I wish we could read it. to- 
gether. It would just suit you. I have found in it, 
like yourself in Young, many a little gem of thought, 
and many a beautiful passage which have long been 
familiar in my mouth as household words ; and nearly 
all those old ballads which charmed my fancy, or 
froze my young blood, I find are Southey's. I wish I 
had time to copy you a few of the splendid passages 
from ' the funeral of Arvalan.' " 

For the next six or eight months her energies 
flowed in a purely practical channel. For the pur- 
pose of relieving their "holy and beautiful house" 
from an oppressive debt, the Wesley an ladies at 



1852.] ^AZAE AT BOSTON SPA. 93 

Boston Spa had resolved, among other expedients, to 
get up a bazar. While at Ventnor Miss Hessel had 
cheerfully complied with a request to render "her 
best aid." At that period she was devoting her leis- 
ure to a similar project in that island to pay off a 
debt upon a Sabbath-school. " I am the more inter- 
ested'in it," said she, with characteristic sympathy for 
everything generous, " as a Yorkshire friend, now re- 
siding at Newport, has been the means of pushing 
the matter, and has formed a variety of schemes 
creditable to his head and heart for removing the 
debt. This is the more generous as he has not been 
long in Newport, and does not intend staying many 
more months. I shall therefore devote my leisure to 
this object while here, and w r hen I get back to Boston 
Spa offer the best of my poor services to the cause 
there." 

Her conduct evinced that she was no mere con- 
senting party to this bazar at Boston Spa. Associated 
with other ladies no less devoted, she begged, stitch- 
ed, shaped, and sold, till a handsome sum was real- 
ized. An itinerating basket, furnished by benevolent 
hands, was enlisted as an auxiliary, and these, with 
munificent private donations, aided by a loan to be 
repaid without interest, ultimately issued in an 
amount which virtually annihilated the debt. This 
achievement was a source of great gratification. 

During the preparations for this bazar, I appre- 
hend, the annexed letter was written to her brother : 
" I have sat down to commence a letter to you while 
mother is deeply immersed in the fascinations of 
' Uncle Tom,' which has been undergoing a second 



94 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

and audible reading in our little family circle. As 
it is many weeks since I read it first, I am quite grat- 
ified with a second reading, or rather hearing, for I 
generally work while some kind friend or other 
reads to us. Do not Mrs. Stowe's descriptions re- 
mind you of Charles Dickens, although possessing 
somewhat more refinement ? She is a noble woman, 
fit only to be ranked with Clarkson, Wilberforce, 
Elizabeth Fry, and such benefactors of their race. 

" I cannot tell you how proud I feel that the hand 
which has come forth to inscribe on the tottering walls 
and crumbling towers of slavery their irreversible 
doom — which in the sight of all Christian Europe and 
America has held up to the ' Belshazzars enthroned 
on the necks of two millions of God's human chil- 
dren,' 'the Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,' of the 
wanton empire over the bodies and souls of men — I 
cannot tell you how proud I feel that that hand, which 
has traced no shadowy mystic lines to endure but for 
a day, is a woman's hand, Mrs. Stowe is a fine wo- 
man, and there is a rich glow of true old English 
freedom in her noble heart, which has maintained all 
the characteristics of the mother country in spite of 
the associations and influences of the western world." 

During the bazar Miss Hessel was favored with 
the presence and help of her friend from Leeds, and 
at its close accompanied her home. On August 8th 
she writes : " The excitement and bustle of the ba- 
zar, and the dissipation of so much company as we 
have had for the last five weeks is all over, and I have 
just returned from Leeds to fall again into old and 
quieter habits, I returned last night, sobered and per^ 



1852.] THE BAINBOW. 95 

haps a little saddened by the anticipation of some 
months of seclusion and retirement. Still I felt great 
tranquillity of spirit. I never visit my clear friends 
at Roundd ay-terrace but I realize something of this 
kind. The very atmosphere of that dear old dining- 
room, where peace was first whispered to my tempest- 
tossed spirit, seems to have a soothing influence on 
my mind. 1 parted with regret from one whose 
friendship is becoming increasingly dear. I thank 
God for such a friend and for such a friendship. It 
has been a plant of somewhat tardy growth. I 
look back with pleasing wonder on its unfolding 
blossoms. 

" My journey home was a pleasant one. We had 
no sooner fled from the smoke of Leeds, and got a 
glimpse of the luxuriant valleys waving with corn, 
than a majestic rainbow appeared, spanning the 
whole horizon, and deepening in intensity of coloring 
until its brightness dazzled the eye. As our train 
whizzed on immediately under its glorious arch, it 
seemed to me the visible sign of my heavenly 
Father's covenanted protection. And as I watched 
it dripping its skirt of emerald and sapphire in the 
waving cornfields, and spanning tower and village 
with its gorgeous tints, I was reminded with peculiar 
forcefulness of the words of Jehovah : ' I clo set my 
bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a token of a 
covenant between me and the earth.' The valleys, 
standing thick with yellow corn, and the hills clothed 
with verdure, seemed to rejoice in that covenanted 
sign of a faithful, promise-keeping God. I cannot de- 
scribe all the hallowed influence sent down into my 



96 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

heart by the reflections which were awakened while 
gazing upon this scene. My faith's dimmed eye was 
cleared to behold that better covenant; her feeble 
yet outstretched hand w r as strengthened to grasp more 
firmly the Angel of the covenant ; and her drooping 
wing was plumed afresh to mount higher and still 
higher, so that the cleared vision might take in a 
greater expanse of that glorious covenant which spans 
the world, and the strengthened hand grasp more 
firmly that of the covenanted Angel, and find him 
' strong to save.' " 

Three days later she communicates some interest- 
ing reminiscences and valuable experiences to the 
friend she had just left: "I have just witnessed the 
last departure to 'the land of Nod,' dear Sarah, and 
have placed my little table and desk on the hearth- 
rug by the fire, for we have to resort to this comfort 
on this all but comfortless day, with the intention of 
having half an hour's chat with you ere I ascend to 
my dormitory. The wind reminds me of November, 
and ever and anon breaks on my ears like whispered 
waitings from a world of moaning spirits. I seem 
to-night to have gone back some five years of my 
existence, and to realize, with strange distinctness, the 
habits and feelings of seventeen. I remember how I 
used, night after night, to sit at this very desk and 
table with books and papers around me, in the old 
sitting-room at Catterton, when the w T ind howled in 
the chimney, and whistled round the old walls of my 
birthplace, rocking the trees of the rookery while 

' The stormy woods against the sky 
Their giai.t branches tossed.' 



1852.] EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 97 

There have I sat trimming my midnight lamp and 
overtaxing a spirit 'too highly wrought and too se- 
verely tried.' Amid solitary scenes like these, my 
dear Sarah, has the character of your friend been 
moulded ; by influences such as these have those lines 
of character been formed which you perhaps better 
understand than any other person. When I think 
that the strife and struggle, the battle of my mental 
life, was all for the attainment of one grand object, of 
the nature of which I was supremely ignorant — true 
happiness ; and when I reflect that I sit here to-night 
in possession of that for which I so blindly struggled, 
my spirit is bowed in wondering gratitude to that 
God who has truly ' led me by a way which I knew 
not.' O how long I 

' Battled with the unceasing spray, 
And sank o'erweari'ed in the stormy strife, 
Yet rose to strive again.' 

For the sure and steadfast anchorage of my long tem- 
pest-tossed bark I thank my God. But forgive me 
for all this egotism. I really did not intend one bit 
of it. I started without a helm, and these winds have 
driven my little vessel from her course." 

On September 2 she writes to the same friend : 
" Your letter awakened in my mind many painful 
reflections. Your confessions are sacred with your 
friend. Would that yours was an isolated case ! I 
almost trembled as you lifted the curtain and admitted 
me into the secret chambers of your heart, for I felt 
that however self-abased my friend might be, I had a 
retrospect more humiliating and God-dishonoring still. 
Shall I, in turn, raise the curtain, and from that sacred 



98 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

deposit of thought and feeling, my diary, give you a 
sketch of what your friend is and has been ? 

" ' O ! when I look back upon the workings of my 
heart, even since I professed to be a follower of the 
spotless Lamb, the blush of shame may well suffuse 
my cheek. God has given me an ardent and aspiring 
nature, doubtless that it may seek after noble attain- 
ments. But how have I abused this gift ? Alas ! I 
have wickedly coveted in turn everything which the 
world holds great and good. I have yearned for gifts 
which God has denied, for wealth and fame, for beauty 
and distinction, for " lips on which the mystic bee 
hath dropped the honey of persuasion," for "the 
glorious burst of winged words" to give expression 
to the burning thoughts of my soul. And for what ? 
To glorify myself! With shame I make this con- 
fession, and leave it recorded here. Should it survive 
the hand which has now given it a form, perhaps some 
whom I love may be warned by it. How much it 
has cost me to purge out this old leaven, I cannot 
describe. How much God has had to do with me ere 
I could bless his name for what his wisdom has with- 
held, as well as for what his love has given, is more 
than my pen can set forth. He has seen fit to com- 
pass me with infirmity; but, in answer to the sighs 
and tears and agonizing prayers which have come up 
before him, the assurance has been given : " My grace 
is sufficient for thee." O ! when I stand beside my 
sympathizing and glorified Redeemer, and when he 
shall place on my immortal brow the crown which 
by suffering he hath won for me, shall I then murmur 
that my lot on earth was not a nobler one? Shall I 



1852.] SELF-REPROACH. 99 

mourn that the aspiring soul was, for a brief space, 
trammeled and fettered by infirmity and suffering ? 
No ! But viewing the life-long struggle against flesh 
and blood, and rejoicing in the loftier powers of the 
enfranchised spirit, methinks my song of bursting 
gladness will be : " Thanks be to God who giveth me 
the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." ' 

" How much we have to be thankful for, dear Sarah ! 
Let us see to it that our lives are not only one con- 
tinued service of thanksgiving, but of thanksliving. 
I have learned many a salutary lesson of my own 
littleness in a crowded city, and I have gone forth, 
and 'in the dim woods' leafy solitude,' have blessed 
God that such an atom, c a speck on the seashore of 
creation,' should be endowed with so many sources 
of happiness, should have a soul attuned to all the 
harmonies of nature, a spiritual ear listening to the 
6 voices of visionless • things,' bodily senses which 
drink in happiness, and, above all, a soul 'immortal 
as its Sire,' created to know and love him for ever." 

" The Psalmist's declaration has been confirmed in 
my experience," she records in her journal, Septem- 
ber 29 : " ' In the time of trouble He shall hide me 
in his pavilion ; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he 
hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.' "While 
passing through fiery trials, trials of my faith and 
patience, I have seemed ' to dwell in the secret place 
of the Most High, and to abide under the shadow of 
the Almighty.' Sometimes it seemed as though a 
voice within my heart said : ' Thou art mine, no evil 
shall befall thee, thine head shall be lifted up above 



100 . MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

thine enemies round about thee.' When I left my 
cause entirely in the hands of God, when I said, 
4 Lord, I am thine, and thou art pledged to love and 
guard thine own; my record is on high, thou wilt 
defend me, and keep me secretly in a pavilion from 
the strife of tongues,' then did I experience the fullness 
of the promise, ' Great peace have they that love thy 
law, and nothing shall offend them.' " 

On October 5 she writes to Miss S. R. : " It is 
Sabbath evening, and I am a prisoner. I trust, dear- 
est Sarah, that while your friend is laying open the 
secret chambers of her heart for your inspection, you 
are mingling with the great congregation in the de- 
lightful service of prayer and praise. I am alone, 
and have just risen from my knees, having invoked 
such blessings as I humbly trust the Spirit of God 
prompted me to ask. ' Wilt thou not answer the 
Spirit's cry within me?' is the question which my 
heart proposes to the great Hearer of prayer. One 
part of my petition has been for my friend, that her 
love and zeal may increase, and that her talents may 
all be consecrated to God and his Church. Well ! you 
are worshiping him now, whether in the temple made 
with hands, or alone, in that bodily temple which we 
are commanded to keep holy. You are worshiping, 
and the spirit of your friend is with you. Quicker 
than light can travel, it passes over the space which 
divides our bodies, and joins your spirit at the mercy 
seat. There is a solemn, sacred, delightful influence 
around me at this moment ; 

4 Faith lends its realizing light' 



1852.] SABBATH THOUGHTS. 101 

Our friendship seems to assume a spiritual nature. 
Even now I feel as if the same hopes, the same 
aspirations, the same longings after a higher spiritual 
life actuated and burned in both our souls, until they 
are almost one before God. 

" ' Faith lends its realizing light,' and by that light 
I look beyond the present life, when our disembodied 
spirits shall stand before the throne of Gocl, and com- 
mune as spirits alone can commune. Farther still 
that light stretches, and by it I behold these identical 
bodies, renewed, refined, and spiritualized, made im- 
mortal as their Sire, reunited to the purified and 
exalted spirits, and made companionable with the 
loftiest seraph who throbs and burns with adoration 
nearest the un vailed refulgence of the Godhead. 
Shall we not explore together the wonders of creation, 
the mysteries of redemption, and the archives of 
heaven's history ere 'the morning stars sang together, 5 
and the sun and moon were hung in the firmament 1 
Reason staggers at such an anticipation. The pride 
of intellect seems bowed before it, and fails to grasp 
the thought. But ' faith lends its realizing light,' and 
not only depicts the scene, but unhesitatingly relies 
on the word of unchanging truth for its fulfillment. 
Should you or I be called soon to enter upon this 
blessed state, may we be found with garments un- 
spotted from the world, clothed in the robe of Christ's 
finished righteousness ! 

" Monday night. I intended my letter to be posted 
to-day, but I have had other letters to write, and I 
feel all the waywardness of an invalid, and find it 
necessary to vary my employment. When your 



102 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

letter reached me I was luxuriating amid the fascina- 
tions of ' Uncle Tom.' 1 think Mrs. Stowe resembles 
Dickens very much in her descriptions. They are 
quite as vivid. They lose nothing in forcefulness by 
being presented to you in more tasteful and elegant 
language. You wander amid the characters in the 
book with a strange feeling of intimate acquaintance. 
They are real living men and women, with whom you 
can hardly persuade yourself you have not had actual 
intercourse. 

On the 7th of October she thus freely pours her pass- 
ing thoughts and heartfelt solicitude for the welfare of 
her friend Mr. B. : " It would scarcely be polite to tell 
you that I am replying thus early to your note because 
I can do but little else. I feel all the waywardness of 
an invalid, and undertake only such employments as 
strike my fancy. I have been suffering from a cold, 
which, like a subtle enemy, retreated for a little while 
that it might seize me more securely, and make me a 
closer prisoner than ever. My poor humanity is 
shaken with a racking cough, like a reed swept by the 
blast. This lovely morning seems wooing me back 
to health, and every pulse seems to throb with the 
joyous expectation of soon reveling in the enjoyment 
of that precious boon. I was just thinking that every 
sorrow of life had its modicum of alleviation, and it 
were sometimes worth a little pain to draw out those 
dear domestic sympathies — those thousand little at- 
tentions which bespeak the presence of affection. But 
then there is the danger of becoming selfish — of feel- 
ing that such expressions of the heart's affection are 
but a tribute due to you, rather than the gratuitous 



1852.] ADVICE TO A FRIEND. 103 

offering of love. It is needful sometimes that we 
should go forth into the crowded city, and, amid the 
thousands who glitter on the height of wealth and 
power, and the thousands more who ' sink in the depths 
of poverty and misery,' learn the humbling lore, that 
with all our home-importance and home-indulgence, 
we are but specks on the great ocean of humanity, 
atoms on the sea-shore of creation. I did not intend 
moralizing to you this morning. You must for- 
give me. You will be indulgent to an invalid, I 
think. . . . 

" Well, my friend, I hope you are aiming at a high 
standard of mental and moral excellence. Never 
lower your standard, Tiowever far your attainments 
may come short of it. Aim at the highest excellence 
in everything. Endeavor to bring your attainments 
to your standard, but never lower your standard to 
your attainments. If there is one faculty more than 
another of the human mind which should call for our 
warmest gratitude to the great Giver of all good, and 
for our most assiduous and careful cultivation, it is 
that faculty of expansion — that out-going impulse — 
that principle which impels us to grasp what we never 
grasped before — to conquer every difficulty which 
would prevent our onward course. To my mind this 
faculty of the soul, more than any other, stamps its 
lofty lineage and bespeaks its divine parentage. 

"There is one remark which I would add to these 
desultory ones. I hope you will not deem me im- 
pertinent for making it. Intellectual pride is the 
snare of most students. True, it is more pardonable 
than either personal or spiritual pride, but it is never- 



104 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

theless sinful and dangerous. It is subtle, and creeps 
in and intertwines itself with laudable ambition. It 
is not easily discerned, and when discovered, has many 
retreats and coverts. May you and I be delivered 
from it, and ever feel that all we have we have re- 
ceived ! 

' Is pride for man ? the crushed before the moth. 
Is it for angels ? Answer ye who walked 
Exulting on the battlements of heaven, 
And fell interminably. Dizzy heights 
Suit not the born of clay. rather walk 
With careful footsteps, and with lowly eyes, 
Bent on thine own original.' 

" You will pardon me I am sure, and not think that 
I suspect you for one moment. You know I am rath- 
er your senior, and in the battle and struggle of my 
mental life have learned some lessons of wisdom, 
which I pray God you may never have to purchase so 
dearly." 

To Miss S. R., in a letter commenced October 29, 
she says : " I am deeply interested in 'The Seventh 
Vial.' I have wished for you here many times, or 
rather I have wished for some still more quiet retreat, 
where you and I might talk over the glories of that 
grand symbolical panorama enacted on the little stage 
of sea-girt Patmos. So far I like the work very much 
because I feel it to tread on sure ground. The sym- 
bolic alphabet is made out from the interpreted sym- 
bols of the Old Testament, symbols used and ap- 
proved in the Old Testament prophecies, and no new 
symbol is used in the book of Revelation. There are 
no fanciful interpretations such as Elliot and Keith 



1852.] WYLIE'S SEVENTH VIAL 105 

have given, symbolizing part, and leaving the remain- 
der to be understood literally. But from that thrill- 
ing moment when the seven-sealed roll of Providence, 
held in the right hand of the Eternal Father, was 
opened by the slaughtered Lamb in the midst 
of 'the throne, from that moment through all 
the grand symbolical drama which the unfolding 
of that roll revealed to the most loved disciple of 
the great Head of the Church, the history of that 
Church comes before us in its historical detail. 
Beading in the light of this vision the history of 
the Waldenses and the Vaudois, their sufferings and 
testimony become invested with unparalleled sub- 
limity. 

"To my mind the atonement seems to receive ad- 
ditional interest from the fact that none in heaven or 
earth were found worthy to open that sealed roll of 
the Church's prophetic history, save the Lamb that had 
been slain ; and no sooner had he been installed into 
his high office as providential guardian of his Church, 
than we find him unfolding that Church's sufferings, 
faith, constancy, and final triumph, in the Holy Spirit's 
own symbolic characters, to his chosen friend and 
bosom companion on earth. O, I should like, had I 
the historical information necessary, to trace that his- 
tory from the time Christianity went forth from the 
cross, in the persons of a few weeping disciples, spread- 
ing its triumphs until it ascended the throne of the 
Cesars, and gave laws from that very tribunal before 
which its Lord and Master was arraigned, then dimin- 
ishing in power and numbers, till the papal power 
overthrew the tottering empire, and reduced the 



106 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

Church to the two witnesses whose trials, faith, and 
constancy form a prominent part in the vision. How 
little did the scattered remnant of the Eastern and 
Western Churches, as age after age witnessed their 
sufferings amid the mountain fastnesses and valleys of 
Piedmont, in the caves and dens of the earth, driven 
hither and thither by the fierce persecutions of the 
6 woman drunken with the blood of saints ' — how little 
did these faithful followers of Jesus imagine that all 
their sufferings, persecutions, final triumph, and glori- 
ous reward had been arranged in heaven, and sym- 
bolized on earth by one of the most magnificent scenes 
which human eyes could behold ! Contemplating their 
faith in the overthrow and destruction of the papacy, 
does not their cry from under the altar possess a sub- 
limity which nothing less than inspiration could im- 
part ? ' How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou 
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell 
on the earth V 

" I cannot tell you how much my faith in that provi- 
dential wisdom and power which has been delegated to 
our ascended Saviour has been strengthened by con- 
templating this unique and admirably consistent sym- 
bolization of his Church's labors, struggles, and glori- 
ous triumph . With the alphabet to this last consum- 
mation of prophetical mystery, 1 shall turn with new 
delight to read off the wonders of the Apocalypse. 
As Ezekiel's wondrous visions were a symbolized rev- 
elation of the Holy Spirit's offices and mission, so 
this is a similar revelation of the Son's providential 
jurisdiction over, and signally glorious deliverance of, 
his Church, But I must conclude. T have been 



1852.] HOW IS EVIL ACCOUNTED FOR? 107 

much interrupted by talkers, and have almost lost the 
thread of my musings." 

Miss Hessel's tendency to the speculative was now 
held in check alike by her religious principles and the 
growth of natural good sense. She was magnani- 
mously bent, however, on judging for herself as to the 
locality of the boundary line which marks off the le- 
gitimate from the illegitimate in the realms of in- 
quiry. Miss S. R. had desired her thoughts on a sub- 
ject which exercises and perplexes all reflecting minds 
— the reconciliation of evil with divine goodness. On 
November 18 she replies: "I have found many of 
my secret, half- formed ideas on these matters express- 
ed in Tupper. Orthodox people shake their heads and 
say we have no business to meddle with these things. 
I don't believe it. I think we have a right to think, 
and ponder, and stretch the capabilities of our im- 
prisoned spirits. I like Mrs. Stowe's thought. It is 
as true as it is sublime. The soul awakes a trembling 
stranger between two dim eternities, but with the 
light of inspiration and the answering echoes in her 
own soul ; she gathers many mystic images both of 
the past and future, but they are mostly undeciphered 
hieroglyphics. She folds them in her bosom, and 
expects to read them when she passes beyond the vail." 

Is not much of the perplexity felt on this subject 
needless % Since the possibility of evil is a necessary 
condition of moral agency, why should its perpetra- 
tion excite surprise % How evil enters a pure mind, 
may lie beyond our ability to explain. But this diffi- 
culty belongs to metaphysics. The fact that the 



108 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1852. 

absolute prevention of moral evil is incompatible 
with moral agency, should satisfy every practical 
thinker. 

As an inducement to her Skipton friend to become 
her visitor, she writes on December 3 : " I have some 
thoughts and feelings which I should like to confide to 
you. Perhaps you will say they are the remnants of 
my visionary girlhood. Nevertheless they haunt me 
with a pertinacity which makes me think they may 
some day assume a tangible form. I think it is 
Lamartine who says, what is opinion in one genera- 
tion is principle in the next, and in the third fact or 
action. But individuals live faster than nations. 

" My reading has been rather more systematic late- 
ly, and what think you I am exploring 1 Why, what 
would suit you admirably, 'The Seventh Vial,' by 
Wylie. And supplementary to that, I am reading 
4 The Hand of God in History.' The next work on 
my list is ' The Lollards.' You may imagine that from 
the sublime and comprehensive heights to which these 
works lead the mind, I have looked upon the vast 
panorama of the world's history, and felt how very 
little a place I occupied in that ever shifting drama. 
What specks we are in the great ocean of humanity ! 
What atoms on the sea-shore of creation ! And yet, 
what a whirl of thoughts and feelings in our bosoms, 
giving birth to actions which stamp for us the charac- 
ter of immortality, which seal us for eternal life or 
death ! 1 think I have begun in some measure to ap- 
preciate the immense importance of life. The daily 
routine of existence, the business of living, has 
seemed to me latterly to have become a more method- 



1853.] MISIMPROVED TIME LAMENTED. 109 

ical thing — a thing one should strive to do well, since 
it can only be done once, and since its results are in- 
finite and irreversible as it regards one's self, and 
vastly important as it regards others. It is with ref- 
erence to the latter that I have felt most deeply its 
importance. May you and 1 feel that it is our privi- 
lege to work to-day !" 

" Had you a watch-night V she asks Miss S. R. on 
January 2, 1853. "I did not attend ours for reasons 
too long to explain. Miss B. and I spent the time 
alone. We read a little, talked and thought a great 
deal. Still, after all, these Christmas solemnities, and 
festivities too, have made but a transient impression 
on my heart. I seem to be less capable of deep 
thought and feeling than I once was. The most abid- 
ing impression on my mind seems to be the value of 
time, and in connection with this comes the recollec- 
tion of time misimproved during the past year. Mrs. 
Sigourney's lament over a ' Lost Day,' as I read it by 
the flickering light of the dying year, shed a somewhat 
melancholy influence over my spirit. How many 
such days has the diamond pen of the recording angel 
registered in the archives of heaven for me during the 
past year ? Slowly and sadly have the words come 
over me like the moans of a wailing spirit : 

' Lost ! lost ! lost ! 

A gem of countless price, 
Cut from the living rock, 

And graved in Paradise ; 
Set round with three times eight 

Large diamonds clear and bright, 
And each with sixty smaller ones, 

All changeful as the light. 



110 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

'Lost! lost! lost! 

I feel all search is vain ; 
That gem of countless cost 

Can ne'er be mine again ; 
I offer no reward, 

Eor till these heart-strings sever, 
I know. that Heaven-intrusted gift 

Is reft away forever.' 

" How truthful have I felt this in my own past ex- 
perience as at midnight I have thrown off my attire 
after coming from a party ! To these mixed and late 
parties I have a strong and growing objection. How 
worse than useless does the intercourse at them seem ! 
Nay, how dreadfully wicked, when seen in the light 
of another world. One lesson I may perhaps have 
learned amid these worldly associations. How much 
of the frivolity which I condemned and kept aloof 
from, would I tolerate and indulge among my own 
people ! And yet is this less trifling or less sinful 
here than there ? Only so far as its influence on those 
around me extends. It has the same record on high. 
Maybe, its characters of condemnation are more 
deeply traced in the book of remembrance when 
it is annexed to Christian profession. c Libera nos 
Domine ! ' 

" I wish you had been here the other night. I went 
out between twelve and one, having been writing until 
that time, to enjoy the glorious moonlight. We have 
had splendid nights, such as I never remember to .have 
seen. I wished for you, for though it was delightful 
to listen to the music of nature in her own realm 
undisturbed, I somehow felt it would have been 
sweeter, though we had not spoken, to feel that my 



1853.] BEAUTIES OF EVENING. Ill 

friend was sharing my emotions. Fancy me invoking 
the spirit of harmony in borrowed lays of thrilling 
beauty : 

4 And now, in the sweet noon of lovely night, 

My feet have wandered forth in search of thee ; 
"When the fall-rounded moon, with flooding light, 

Pours silvery splendor o'er night's panoply, 
Gazing down deeply from the central height 

Of heaven's blue, starless, cloudless, boundless sky, 
Mildly as sinks upon the enraptured sight 

The light that falls from beauty's deep-blue eye.' " 



112 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 



CHAPTER V. 

Doubts the Wisdom of recording her Religions Emotions — Samuel 
Taylor Coleridge — Communion with Nature — Thoughts in a 
Cemetery — Cheever's Voices of Nature — Goethe — The Battle 
of Life — John Foster — Thoughts on Heaven — Life of Mrs. 
Judson — Charlotte Elizabeth — A Sonnet — An Invocation. 

The suspicions Miss Hessel had for some time en- 
tertained respecting the danger of a frequent record 
of her religious emotions, approximated, early in the 
year 1853, to a conviction. " I have felt how difficult 
it has been to write the simple feelings of my heart 
without any reference to another than myself." Sub- 
sequently she writes : " My reluctance to journalizing, 
after the manner I have hitherto pursued, increases. 
My feelings are such an unsafe criteria of my real 
state of mind and heart, that I ought to be very care- 
ful in recording them merely for my own reference. 
I am inclined to discard keeping a journal of religious 
experiences, as unprofitable to myself. Farther than 
this I do not feel at liberty to pronounce judgment 
upon it." 

Much internal examination with a view to record, 
tends, beyond a doubt, to a morbid state of feeling. 
A healthy, vigorous piety can be secured only by 
" looking to Jesus." Here is the philosophy of true 
Christian experience : " Beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord," we " are changed into the same 
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord." 



1853.] VIEWS OF RELIGION. 113 

Toward the close of January she was gladdened 
with the anticipation of a week's visit from her Leeds 
friend. Writing to her on the 21st, she says : " I quite 
sympathize with your wishes respecting the improve- 
ment of our time, and like yourself have felt the 
want of some organized plan of study. I have other 
and yet more serious wants to deplore. But while 
I sigh over the past, I look forward somewhat 
hopefully to the future. I shall be glad to con- 
verse with you about these things, for I know you 
have more practical views on these matters than 
T possess." 

Religion was far from being regarded by her as 
designed merely for personal safety and comfort. 
She knew that w r herever it was experienced it gave 
evidence of its heaven-born origin by the lovely and 
ennobling lineaments it imparted to the character. 
To those who dwelt much on the happiness it imparts, 
along with the most cordial concurrence in the senti- 
ment, she would have been tempted to address the 
inquiry: Does it make you benevolent? Does it 
constrain you, as you have opportunity, to do good 
unto all men, especially unto them who are of the 
household of faith ? She held firmly with Paul that 
by grace are we saved through faith ; and that not of 
ourselves : it is the gift of God : not of works, lest 
any man should boast. But she held no less firmly 
with James : " Pure religion and undefined before 
God and the Father is this : to visit the fatherless 
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
unspotted from the world." An illustration of this 
is furnished in the letter just quoted from, In her 



114 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

artless narration of the struggle of principle with in- 
clination, she reveals the strength of that principle as 
well as the sensitiveness of her temperament. 

" O how opposed to the genius of the New Testament 
is the cold, inactive, selfish spirit of many of us pro- 
fessing Christians ! How little of that outgoing benev- 
olence — that universal love to man — which is the surest 
test of the sincerity of our love to God, do we mani- 
fest ! I would not hide my own self-reproaches under 
that common mask, general confession; for when I 
contemplate my Saviour's precepts and example, I 
deeply and penitently feel that I have little claim to 
bear his honored name. To-day I have been deliber- 
ating on the reasonableness of an impulse to visit a 
very destitute family, whom everybody seems to have 
abandoned. The weather, the uncertainty of my re- 
ception, and my own inability to follow up pecuniary 
relief so efficiently as appears needful, have deterred 
me. I shall see what to-morrow will do for my 
courage, and in the mean time try to interest others 
in the work. I tell you this that I may have a more 
powerful stimulant for going, that in fact I may so 
fear your reproof when I see you, that I may be in- 
duced to gird up my shrinking courage to the task. 
The motive is not a bad one in itself, but I am just 
thinking what a much higher motive I have over- 
looked. When He shall ask me whether that love 
which exchanged a throne of glory for a rock-hewn 
pillow in the stable of Bethlehem was not a sufficient 
motive, what shall I answer? O how awfully 
criminal does this inactivity appear when viewed in 
the light which emanates from the book of divine in- 



1853.] BENEFIT OF INTERCOURSE. 115 

spiration ! How will it look when the full blaze of 
judgment shall burst upon it, revealing between two 
vast eternities the little span of human life, with its 
momentous mission for the eternal future? I see 
these things. I feel them. Bat I feel also how weak 
is my nature, how aimless my life has been, how 
vain and futile my attempts at a nobler purpose in 
life must be, unless the Master fit his own instru- 
ment for the work." 

Let this sentiment, while impressing us with a 
feeling of absolute dependence upon Christ, be asso- 
ciated with a conviction that he is constantly seek- 
ing to fit us for the work he has given us, and 
that, if we are not fitted, he will not only be blame- 
less but hold us culpable, and it will prove bene- 
ficial. Let the sentiment nourish a passive hope, 
however, that fitness is to come into our possession 
in some direct and mysterious manner, and it will 
prove pernicious. 

In a few days after her friend's return, she wrote, 
February 10: "I felt somewhat sad as I pursued my 
lonely walk home on Friday, but I have abundant 
cause for grateful reminiscences of your visit. ' Iron 
sharpeneth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the counte- 
nance of his friend,' said the wise man, and I have felt 
since you left that something of your own calm, 
thoughtful, deep, earnest spirit has been communi- 
cated to me. 

" I have just come in from class, and, to my amaze- 
ment on leaving the vestry, the snow was falling in 
blinding showers. The day has been intensely cold, 
but my lovely little snowdrops have held up their 



116 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

heads bravely. Meek dwellers amid the terrors of 
the storm, they have looked up unblanched with fear. 
"I have just been transcribing^.!! extract from 
Cheever's ' Voices of Nature,' etc. It is one of Cole- 
ridge's, and is, I dare say, indeed I know it is familiar 
to you, especially the third line: 

1 the one life within us and abroad, 
Which meets all motion, and becomes its soul, 
A light in sound, a soundlike power in light, 
Khythm in all thought; and joyance everywhere! 
Methinks it should have been impossible 
Not to love all things in a world so filled ; 
When the breeze warbles, and the mute, still air 
Is Music slumbering on her instrument.' 

What pleased me so much was that it was written at 
Clevedon. I did not know when I wandered amid its 
beauties, that Coleridge had ever trod the same haunts, 
or I should have sought the lonely cottage where, 
seated with his wife, he listened to the distant mur- 
mur of the ocean as it blended with the soft cadence 
of the iEoliaii harp, and watched the myrtles which 
blossomed in the open air, the white-flowered jessa- 
mines twined across the porch, and the tall roses 
which peeped in at his chamber window. 

"I well remember the day I went to Clevedon. I 
felt as if a few hours by the seaside would soothe 
that heart-sickness which had been engendered amid 
the uncongenial haunts of a crowded city, and I list- 
ened to the music of the waves with the joyous glad- 
ness of an unfettered bird. I see that lovely picture 
of ever-changing beauty now, and the remembrance 
seems to impart a freshness to my spirit. Seated on 
a terrace, watching the receding tide, and tracing the 



1853.] COMMUNION WITH NATUKE. 117 

outline of the mammoth hills on the opposite coast, 
as they stood out in bold relief from the floating 
clouds of ' glossy light ' in an azure heaven, they 
were invested, for me, with all the poetry of ' the 
green mountains of Wales.' 

" The memory of such hours is especially grateful 
to me. You know that often in my history there 
have been seasons when 'life hath half become a 
weariness, and hope hath thirsted for serener waters.' 
It has then seemed as though mv mind could best 
throw off the ' weary weight' of all this dust of earth 
in the wide domain of nature, and in her most se- 
cluded retreats. O what a various language she has 
for those who would commune with her visible forms! 
'For our gayer hours she has a voice of gladness;' 
but is it not more especially during seasons of over- 
wrought feelings and mental tension, that her voice 
of harmony glides into the spirit with such a gentle 
sympathy as steals away the weariness ere we are 
aware ? I am sure my dear Sarah does not need to 
be told that I have no reference to such feelings of the 
soul as an Almighty power can alone remove. Na- 
ture's God can alone effectually 'minister to a mind 
diseased,' and a heart depraved by guilt." 

Twelve months later she visited York, and, whether 
impelled by her state of mind, or attracted by the 
quiet beauty of the place as she passed along, matters 
little, she entered the cemetery. Thoughts crowd her 
active mind as she walks amid those silent homes. 
The costly stone exhibiting high art, the lengthy 
record proclaiming private virtues or public honors. 



118 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

and the nameless mound where affection's hand had 
planted the expressive flower, were all suggestive, but 
on these she dwelt not. Various surmises as to the 
pursuits, social condition, character, and dying cir- 
cumstances of each tenant of the tomb, no doubt pre- 
sented themselves, but these found no welcome. It 
was not for the sake of indulging in a pleasing but 
profitless sentimentalism that she had turned in thither. 
Her mind was now becoming thoroughly practical, 
and the emotions she welcomed were those awakened 
by the impressive lessons to be there learned. She 
embodied them in the following production. Though it 
may possibly elicit no admiration either for beauty or 
originality of thought, it merits insertion as a revela- 
tion of character, and will furnish food for serious 
reflection to those who love such occupation : 

THOUGHTS IN A CEMETERY. 

Come, for the dead are teachers ! Hearst thou not 

The hallowed lore which every grassy bed 

Breathes forth ? Shake off earth's trammels, free thy soul 

From all the sordid cares of busy life, 

And, like yon franchised bird, quit that drear cell 

In the small round of which thy soul hath been 

Too long pent up. Then bow the knee devout 

Reside yon broken column, where a youth, 

When life's bright roses all around him bloomed, 

Laid his proud head beneath the silent turf. 

High hopes were his. Fame, with her clarion voice, 

Had heralded his praise ; affection's tones 

Thrilled through his soul like music, and his path 

Was lit with brightness. Gaze thou, and listen : 

" All is vanity !" 

Bend o'er that narrow bed. 
A babe finds rest beneath. A mother's love, 



1853.] THOUGHTS IN A CEMETERY. 119 

With all its quenchless, soundless, priceless wealth, 
Lies buried there. What saith the voice that speaks 
From that young sleeper's tiny couch ? " Mothers ! 
The flower fadeth." 

Bend thine ear again. 
Here's the low resting-place of one whose life 
Was spent in search of gain. But while he grasped 
Earth's glittering dross, and by the midnight lamp 
Recounted all his wealth, and at its shrine, 
Obsequious, offered worship ; while he clung 
To earth's ephemeral joys, and proudly scorned 
Heaven's high command ; then came the mandate : 
" Cut him down !" That voice which oft had prayed, 
" Spare him another year," spoke not. Hear'st thou 
Erom his low tomb no warning voice bid thee, 
<*= While in life's prime, " Prepare to meet thy God V 

Come, bow thy knee once more. The place is holy. 
Here a Christian sleeps — one who hath shunned 
Earth's 'witching snares ; and early given his life, 
With its best service, to his God. His path 
Was oft a thorny one. But meekly did 
He tread its mazes, while his soul sublime 
Held commune with the skies. That hope was his 
Whose anchor grasps the throne of God. He speaks 
Erom his high seat in heaven : " I the good fight 
Have fought !" 

Go thou, and in the scales of justice 
Weigh earth's tinseled pomp with his deep bliss. 
Then, like that Christian soldier, 44 trim thy lamp," 
And " wait the coming of thy Lord," 

To her cousin, Miss Wilson , of Howden, who was 
summoned nearly two years before herself to " the 
better land," she thus freely comments on men and 
books : " I scarcely know what I must begin about, 
but as your visit to Boston is uppermost in my mind, 
it shall e'en be that, I am sorry I cannot say. Come 



120 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

at once. We are going to have the passage papered 
and painted next week, I expect, if the weather be 
favorable. After this operation we shall clean, and then 
I shall be ready to enjoy all the beauties of the open- 
ing spring, and your society along with them. I cannot 
tell you exactly how long this will be. Paperers, 
painters, and joiners are tiresome people to do with, 
as you know. But when they are fairly out, and we 
have erased all but the pleasant traces of them, you 
shall know, and I'll welcome you some fine day at the 
station. 

" I suppose you have had a large share of enjoy- 
ment this snow-storm. I have weathered it bravely I 
assure you, with an umbrella for a walking-stick to 
help me to keep my equilibrium. It has been very 
beautiful sometimes, especially these lovely nights. 
Our valleys have presented a picture of enchantment, 
which, with all due deference, your flat country can- 
not rival. But the most glorious picture of this 
snow-storm has been by night, when 

' Soft as music, and wild and white, 

It glitters and floats in the pale moonlight.' 

But I dare say you have reveled in its beauties, and 
drank to the full of its bracing pleasures. 

" My reading has been very sober lately as to 
quality ; I must not say as to quantity. Cheever, 
Foster, Coleridge, and Chalmers are my, stars of 
promise at present. By way of relaxation and vari- 
ety I am reading 'The Wide, Wide World,' an out- 
landish title to a book abounding in good sentiments 
and Bible morality, but poor in the plot of the tale, 
unnatural in the characters, and not at all brilliant in 



1853.] PLEASURE FROM A SNOW-STORM. 121 

description or talent of any kind. Nevertheless it 
has a charm about it one cannot well resist." 

On the same day she says to Miss S. E: "Your 
letter was thrice welcome. How temptingly it lay on 
my dressing table ! and how I teased myself, and 
pleased myself, by wondering at its contents ! and 
how my fingers tickled to break the forbidden seal 
before I had completed my toilet ! and then came my 
full reward when every i etcetera ' was finished, and I 
sat down, in real contented ease, to peruse it. There 
is pleasure in keeping awhile a letter you wish to 
read, provided you have it under your own care, and 
feel sure it cannot be conjured from you, I had 
been thinking that this 

4 New creation without a stain, 
Lovely as heaven's own pure domain,* 

in which I had reveled the last week or two, 

' Like the many fair hopes of our years, 
Had glittered awhile, then melted to tears. n 

But lo ! again 

' The trees with their diamond branches appear, 
Like the fairy growth of some magical sphere.' 

I have had intense pleasure in watching this trans- 
formation, and ruminating on the bracing walk of 
to-morrow morning. As I turn to the fire I thank 
God that though my lot be not cast where, in my 
silly ignorance, I have often wished, I have that which 
defies the storm and secures comfort, instead of the 
cold struggle with poverty and want which many ex- 
perience. 



122 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

" I have had some rich lessons of contentment 
taught me latterly by contact with the varied forms 
of human misery. It is salutary to contrast one's 
condition with those beneath. Alas! how seldom 
have I done anything but vice versa. And what an 
injury I have done myself! How I have dishonored 
God by it, and cherished ingratitude, when I might 
have had a heart overflowing with love and thanks- 
giving ! 

"My good mother, like some ministering -angel, 
goes among these cottagers bearing joy and gladness 
everywhere, whether as the almoner of her own or 
another's gifts, and brings back such tales of distress 
as make any- little sacrifice we are called upon to 
make much more of a pleasure than its name would 
imply. 

" But whither am I wandering ? I was going to 
tell you of the books I have been reading. I like 
c Voices of Nature ' very much indeed. It contains a 
thorough system of spiritual education, so to speak ; 
and, minus the Calvinism, is a thoroughly good book, 
the best of Cheever's I have read. I have read two 
days incessantly, and have digested the reading 
thereof to-day. 'Tis a bad plan. For relaxation get 
Parker Willis's 'Life Here and There.' It is a 
double volume of Bohn's shilling series, but not 
worth buying exactly. It will afford you immense 
amusement, and you will like his descriptions. You 
will wonder to find our grave philosopher of Yale 
College such a youthful dash-a-way. t Had he 
been an Englishman I should have said he wrote 
- Eothen.' 



1853.] AN EXALTING THOUGHT. 123 

" Well, I've got c John Foster's Life and Corre- 
spondence ' at last. Mr. W. brought it in this after- 
noon. I almost gloat over it. I have felt, since 
reading Cheever, thoroughly disciplined for serious 
reading, I am far behind you ; but lead on, dear 
Sarah, I will follow. 

" Poor Goethe ! I have read his life, but none of his 
works. I have always thought of his last words with 
sadness. They seem like the spirit's instinctive cry 
for the immortality he had denied. I wonder if it is 
in the nature of our immortal spirit to long for 
annihilation. On this side the grave it seems impos- 
sible, with the faculties of the soul unimpaired, to 
wish to retreat ' to some dark niche along the disk 
of non-existence.' How everything around us and 
within us tells of the soul's immortality ! It is a 
glorious, exalting thought." 

The invigorating effect of the writers she was now 
communing with reveals itself very palpably in a 
journal for her most intimate friend, commenced 
on February 27 and extending to March 16. Let 
those who read books that require no thought, and 
which therefore instead of invigorating often enervate 
the mind, ponder well the second and third para- 
graphs of this extract. What mental vigor would be 
acquired, and what quickening social influence exert- 
ed by the young, if, instead of light and desultory 
reading, they would betake themselves to such works 
as Miss Hessel had now on hand ! Conquest over 
the reluctance to such reading should be regarded as 
part of the valuable discipline of life. 



124 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

" I am now going to make trial of one of the many 
plans which my ever-restless mind has formed. I 
intend to commit my thoughts to paper as they occur 
to me, and send them to you occasionally in the form 
of a journal. Perhaps they will not always happen 
to be in this form ; and my meaning would perhaps 
be more evident if I were to say, that whenever my 
spirit yearns to commune with yours, to tell you some- 
thing of its hidden life, I shall take up my pen and 
hoard together a few ' broken fragments of my soul,' 
and send them to you at intervals. I do not wish 
to bind you to a similar practice. I wish you to follow 
the bent of ' your own sweet will ' in this matter. I 
only claim the privilege of doing this as an indulgence, 
which I am sure you will grant to your wayward 
friend. 

"I want just now to tell you this: that I have a 
sublime, an elevated standard of excellence before 
me; that I have contemplated it until it has filled 
and expanded my soul ; that I have become enamored 
of the beautiful vision, and have descended from the 
lofty heights of my imagination to find that it can be 
attained only by hard conflict and strife. I scarcely 
dare say to you, my dearest friend, what I have 
feared to utter in the presence of my God alone, that 
I have entered on the struggle, the true ' Battle of 
Life.' I feel, in looking back, that in reference both to 
my intellectual and religious life, I have had a name 
to live and been dead. The long yearnings of my 
soul have lately become so intensified that at times 
they have amounted to an agony of desire, a panting 
after a higher moral and intellectual existence. 



1853.] SELF-EXAMINATION. 125 

" As the ground-work or foundation of the struc- 
ture which by God's help I would rear, I have begun 
by self-examination. This has truly appalled me. I 
see so much that is wrong in the habit of my 
thoughts, in the style of my conversations, and in the 
manner of spending my time, that I may well stand 
appalled. My impetuous and unreflecting habit of 
mind makes me the prey of temptations which it 
would be difficult for you to understand. I see that 
a vigilant watchfulness, as well as prayerfulness, is 
absolutely necessary. God has given me light that I 
may walk in it ; and I feel convinced that the discov- 
eries I have lately had of the immense importance of 
these habits to my own eternal welfare and that of 
others, are from the Spirit of God, and ought not to 
be trifled with. 

"March 4. My morning walks have been very 
pleasant and profitable lately. I have felt that I 
would not exchange their solitude for companionship 
with any one except yourself. I was thinking the 
other day of Mrs. Stowe's remark, that 'in moral 
science that which is not understood is often not 
altogether profitless.' How often a thought of vast 
magnitude and sublimity flashes before the mind as 
the lightning glances before your window ! Your 
powers are too feeble to grasp it, or your capacity 
too contracted to receive it ; but has it accomplished 
nothing 1 It has accomplished much. It has carried 
your thoughts upward ; they have followed, as a 
needle follows the magnet, and you have felt some- 
thing like the wondering disciples on the ascension 
mount, when the angels accosted them with the inter- 



126 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

rogation : { Ye men of Galilee ! why stand ye gazing 
up into heaven V and there has been a certain and 
exulting conviction in the mind, I shall compass that 
and greater thoughts. / shall. The mind that now 
struggles to expand and comprehend shall one day 
enlarge and fill, fathom and explore with the greatest 
ease, and without that feverish unrest, that constant 
tension of its powers, which is now necessary for the 
acquisition of knowledge. 

" March 8. I cannot tell you how much I am de- 
lighted with Foster. You must not think me pre- 
sumptuous or vain when I claim a close affinity with 
his modes of thinking, or rather I would say, a deep 
sympathy with his somber fancy and his speculations. 
I was often surprised to find the buried thoughts of 
years gone by, the visions which have presented 
themselves to my mind in dim and shadowy outline, 
start from the page in real tangible form, expressed 
in the glowing words in which I had so long coveted 
to embody them. 

" My friend will not, I am sure, misunderstand me. 
I am far from claiming the power even to grasp some 
of his thoughts. And much of what he has written 
is out of the province of my thinking. Yet in all that 
relates to communion with nature, to the soul's im- 
mortality, and the mysteries of that unvailed future, 
I have felt such a oneness of spirit with him as 1 
never remember to have felt with any other being,- 
living or dead. I cannot describe to you the impres- 
sions made on my mind by some of his passages. I 
have been almost transported out of myself, ethere- 
alized ? and for a while have felt the vail between this 



1853.] JOHN FOSTER, 127 

world and the next attenuating, until I have been re- 
called from my reverie by the gross materialism 
around me. One cannot help feeling as if the enjoy- 
ments of heaven would be more intense to him than 
to the great majority of saints. 

" You may be sure I was delighted to find Foster 
had just the same kind and degree of taste for music 
which I possess. Every word of the following pas- 
sage is so expressive of my own feelings that I tran- 
scribe it : ' He did not possess any scientific acquaint- 
ance with music, for which he had no ear ; yet was 
passionately fond of some kinds of it, especially of the 
mournful and solemn. He used to wonder that it 
should be thought impossible for a person who, tech- 
nically speaking, had no ear, to feel an interest in 
music, and strongly asserted the power that it could 
exercise over himself to inspire almost every descrip- 
tion of sentiment. He was never tired of hearing 
anything that pleased him, but would ask for it again 
and again. He felt more interested in instrumental 
than in vocal music, and his favorite instrument was 
the organ.' And now I have said enough of my fa- 
vorite author. 

"March 16. I have finished Foster. I pity his 
misanthropy; commiserate the distressing indolence 
which marred the happiness of a spirit so active in 
planning, and so painfully slow in executing ; and 
shrink from his views on the subject of future punish- 
ment, because, though they are very plausible, they 
cannot upset or fritter away the plain, unequivocal 
declaration of Scripture. Shall we not, when we en- 
ter the world of spirits, be endowed with the capabil- 



128 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

ity of harmonizing what appear to our finite compre- 
hension the discrepancies of the divine government? 
of unraveling the awful mysteries which baffle and re- 
pel our meager powers of thought 1 Will not the per- 
fect harmony of these mysteries with the absolute 
perfection of the divine attributes be made plain to 
us in a disembodied state? Will the soul require 
any new powers of comprehension to enable it to re- 
ceive the floods of knowledge poured into it % Or is 
its present prison-house the only hinderance to the full 
development of those powers, which, when expanded, 
and continuously expanding, in the genial atmosphere 
of a brighter clime ... A whole posse of visit- 
ors interrupted me, and I have neither time nor power 
to recall what I was about to say. 

" I am reading ' Hethering ton's History of the 
Church of Scotland,' and my next work is ' Nineveh 
and Persepolis.' " 

" You ask me how I am employed," she writes to 
her sister-in-law on March 9. " I don't know whether 
I told you I am one of the secretaries for our * basket.' 
This is a rather arduous and trying office. We have 
all the work to buy and cut out, the meetings to ar- 
range, and everybody to invite, accounts to keep, arti- 
cles to enter, to reconcile everything so as to meet ev 
erybody's convenience; which last, I assure you, re- 
quires as much patience as was ever exhibited in the 
renowned land of Uz. 

"If you have not read the 'Wide Wide World,' 
you will be amply repaid by its perusal. Thanks to 
our American sisters ! They are doing a noble work ; 



1853.] OUR AMERICAN SISTERS. 129 

raising that department of literature called fiction 
from the base use to which it has been so long prosti- 
tuted, and making it what it ought to be, and what our 
blessed Lord in his teachings made it, a vehicle for 
conveying the noblest truths. I have great pleasure 
in thinking that this volume, with the strange cogno- 
men, which in no wise expresses the character of the 
book, has found its way into many families to whom 
its valuable truths would otherwise have been un- 
known, or at least would have been ineffective through 
any other medium than that of fiction. I can scarcely 
conceive it possible for any one to read it without be- 
ing made better. Having said thus much in its favor, 
I may add that it has faults when critically analyzed, 
but they belong entirely to the composition and plot 
of the tale, and in no wise affect the sentiment. 

" I am reading [ John Foster's Life and Correspond- 
ence.' It is a rich treat. I never had so much men- 
tal enjoyment compressed into the space of ten days." 

On March 10 she writes in her journal : " How in- 
expressibly glorious must be that freedom from the 
restless warrings of good and evil in the human soul 
which we shall experience when we get to heaven ! 
How sweet to find everything in and around us in per- 
fect harmony with the divine nature, the immaculate 
holiness of God ! and then, the assurance that all this 
shall be permanent, eternal ! There, there shall be 
no conflict between grace and nature ; no wrestling 
with temptation, either from the world or the devil ; no 
struggling with the passions and propensities of a fallen 
nature; no tearful and agonizing cry after a holiness 
of heart and life which must be had at the expense of 



130 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

a crucifixion of the flesh, a resolute and often pro- 
tracted struggle with the powers of evil. No ! toil 
will then be exchanged for rest, sorrow for the joy of 
an eternal feast, conflict for conquest. How the spirit 
on earth, yearning for some definite knowledge of that 
glorious life to come, stretches forward, and eagerly 
asks with the baffled curiosity of Foster : ■ How can 
I sustain an endless duration V * How can I prolong 
sentiment and action for ever and ever V " 

The contrasts in this passage may produce in the minds 
of some readers, views of the present life opposed to 
those really entertained by Miss Hessel. Several pas- 
sages in this volume attest that she regarded our pres- 
ent trials and conflicts as a salutary and necessary dis- 
cipline for heaven. The warrior may commend ably 
anticipate the period of conquest, but where would be 
the sweets of conquest had there not been the toils of 
conflict % And where would be the relish for the ho- 
liness of heaven, unless there had beeu " a struggling 
with the passions and propensities of our fallen na- 
ture 1 ?" A man may just as wisely expect to become 
a scholar without mental training, as to realize future 
blessedness without moral training. 

The return of spring generally brought, with its ex- 
naustless stores of beauty and delight, physical pros- 
tration, which revived apprehensions of an early grave. 
In the previous autumn she had written : " I have 
dwelt much to-day on one feature of my mental con- 
stitution to which I have rarely alluded, even to my 
most intimate friends. From childhood I have loved 
to muse on death. My imagination has made itself 



1853.] THOUGHTS OF AN EARLY DEATH. 131 

familiar with death in almost every form, especially 
in that of wearying, wasting consumption." The im- 
pressions made upon her susceptible nature by wit- 
nessing the death of two such attached relatives as 
her eldest brother and sister from that disease, viewed 
in connection with her own general debility, easily ac- 
count for this fact. These thoughts were not always 
melancholy or even sad. " Since my conversion," she 
proceeds, "these musings have been of a more hal- 
lowed nature, and my general feeling has been that 
of a perfect willingness to die, should my heavenly 
Father be pleased to call me." 

On April 3 she writes : " When shall the yearnings 
of my spirit be satisfied ? How shall I attain that for 
which my soul has panted for the last three weeks — 
holiness ? The word has a solemn, almost ah awful 
import ; I have been so much distressed at my want 
of this qualification for heaven that I have had very 
little enjoyment in religion. I have a sense of secur- 
ity, an abiding faith, which is ' an anchor to my soul, 
sure and steadfast, entering into that within the vail ;' 
but strange to say, even this sense of security fails to 
impart its wonted happiness, because my perceptions 
of the heinousness of sin and the purity of God have 
been so much more vivid. I want to enjoy closer 
communion with my Saviour, but the remains of car- 
nality interpose. I think my anxiety on this subject 
has been increased by an impression which has almost 
constantly haunted me lately, that God designs, ere 
long, to transplant me from the Church militant to the 
Church triumphant. Much as I have been wont to 
desire this, and do now, 1 have yet felt as if I had 
9 



132 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

something to do for God on earth. Hitherto I have 
done nothing; my life has been useless, and I am 
humbled at the retrospect To do what I wish will 
cost me much labor, and my plan may not be God's. 
I feel as if I should like to leave something behind 
me, which, either as precept, or example, or both, 
may advance God's glory and benefit others. If I 
were taken now, my history would but furnish a 
warning — but be a beacon — telling of talents per- 
verted, of powers misapplied, of a spirit formed for 
the highest and noblest attainments, wandering for 
years in a labyrinth of doubt and vain reasoning ; and 
when at last it was led by the power of divine grace 
to the perception of its lofty heritage, how miserably 
it failed to realize what might have been expected. 
Well may the cry of such a spirit, awakened to the 
beauty of holiness, be an agonizing one." 

Though these concluding strictures are unduly severe, 
as her friends believe, they are by no means to be regard- 
ed as purely morbid utterances. To those willing to 
adopt palatable rather than scriptural notions of relig- 
ion, conscious immorality is the chief, if not exclusive 
cause of self-reproach in the near prospect of eternity. 
But by those who have examined the only authoritative 
instructor, it is felt that misimproved opportunities of 
doing good furnish cause of righteous condemnation. 
Such persons view religion as an obligation to be dis- 
charged as well as a blessing to be enjoyed, and the 
more distinctly the obligation is contemplated the 
more forceful does it appear, and the greater therefore 
is the regret experienced for neglect. Necessarily 
hers had hitherto been chiefly a work of preparation. 



1853.] SADNESS AND SOLACE. 133 

And so in fact it continued. But though the desire to 
leave something behind her which might " advance 
God's glory and benefit others " was not granted in 
the form she meant, He who determines all issues be- 
held and approved the desire, and granted it in another 
form. Thus does it please him frequently to act. 
Possibly her purpose will be accomplished more effi- 
ciently by the thoughts she artlessly communicated to 
her private friends than by those she would have 
elaborated for the public eye. 

In addition to the depression arising from ordinary 
physical causes, she was now passing through some 
severe mental exercises which imparted an unusual 
sadness to her spirit. A solace was imparted so re- 
markably, however, that a powerful and permanent 
impression was produced by it. She added one more 
to the many testimonies we possess, that ours is a 
faithful and compassionate God, that he will not 
suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to 
bear. On April 7 she thus addresses her friend Miss 
S. R. : "The wind is boisterous and stormy, my dear 
friend, and seems in harmony with all within my 
soul. I would I could tell you a few of the perplex- 
ities and trials which make it such a little world of 
commotion. This morning I walked to tranquilize 
myself, a remedy which I generally find successful. 
Clouds of gorgeous light were piled up in vast masses 
against the ethereal blue, and seemed to realize almost 
all that fancy could picture of the 'palace of angels 
and God.' Turret and tower, dome and battlement, 
rose up in ever- varying beauty, and were bathed in 
that golden light which seems to me expressed only 



134 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

by one word, glory. But over ray head was a dense 
black cloud, which seemed no inapt emblem of the 
darkness brooding over my spirit for the last few 
days. I watched it until I perceived it was fringed 
with light, and as that fringe grew broader, I saw it 
was a cloud with a silver lining. I watched it steadily 
as its fleecy light rolled outward, and lo ! it suddenly 
divided, and the sun poured upon my vision such a 
flood of light as dazzled and almost overwhelmed me. 
What a precious emblem, thought I, of the spiritual 
cloud which encompasses my mind. And then came 
the heart-searchings. Am I willing to submit to these 
trials, ' if thereby my spiritual growth may be pro- 
moted ¥ My full heart answered : \ Even so, Father, 
if so it seemeth good in thy sight.' From that dark 
cloud, vain though may be my endeavors to pierce it, 
I have nothing to fear, for behind it is another, even 
that of the Divine presence, and it as much overshad- 
ows me as though no darker one intervened. And 
as to the eye of faith there is light beyond the dark- 
ness, so to the ear of faith there is a voice coming out 
of the cloud, imparting something of the energy of its 
own omnipotence to the trembling heart : ' Have not 
I commanded thee % Be strong and of a good cour- 
age; be not afraid,- neither be thou dismayed; for the 
Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.' " 
It is one of the self-evidencing proofs of the divine 
origin of the Scriptures, that passages addressed to a 
particular person, on a special occasion, have an 
adaptation for many others in ages quite remote and 
circumstances widely different. There is a subtle es- 
sence in them which the spiritually minded only can 



1853.] MYSTERIOUS SYMPATHY. 135" 

discern, but in virtue of which such a mind can appro- 
priate, and feel to be vitally nutritious, what to other 
eyes appears destitute of interest and importance." 

Anticipating a visit to the same friend, she writes 
on April 23 : "I have spent a singular week, singular 
I mean with reference to the inner life. I have had 
moments of deep depression, of painful humiliation, 
and also of high and hallowed enjoyment. And now, 
in the prospect of committing myself to the pleasing 
dangers of Leeds and Howden, I endeavor to claim 
that part of the promise which seemed to me most 
mysterious, but which I now understand : ' The Lord 
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. 5 How 
my faith staggered at the greatness of the command 
and promise, and how reason argued that a commis- 
sion to the Heaven-appointed leader of a great people 
— a leader of the armies of Israel — could have noth- 
ing to do with me. But faith surmounts greater diffi- 
culties than this, and realizes the promise in proportion 
to its own strength." 

Her friend's cheerful and intelligent society, together 
with change of air, greatly benefited Miss Hessel. Her 
spirits appear to have recovered their usual tone. On 
June 17 she again throws her heart open to her: 
" Having roused myself from a delicious reverie, a 
long contemplation of the fair moon and that one soli- 
tary attendant, whose unrivaled beauty you are per- 
haps at this moment admiring, dearest Sarah, I have 
trimmed my lamp, opened my writing-case, and sat 
down to the pleasing task of half an hour's communing 
with you. I have to-night felt an unusual yearning 
of spirit toward you, almost a feeling that my spirit 



136 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

beat in unison with yours ; that an unseen hand 
had strung the chords of both, and that now they 
vibrate to the same mystic touch. Do you feel any- 
thing like this ? It is a deeper feeling even than that 
so beautifully shadowed out by the poet in those lines 
with which I dare say you are acquainted : 

4 Has a strange mysterious feeling, 

Something shapeless, undefined, 
O'er thy lonely musings stealing 

Ne'er impressed thy pensive mind — 
As if she, whose strong resemblance 

Eancy in that moment drew, 
By coincident remembrance 

Knew your thoughts, and thought of you?' 

In gazing on such a scene as the one from which I 
have just turned, there seems to be a medium of com- 
munication between us. You will assuredly watch 
that moon and those stars ; they will give rise to 
thoughts and feelings which your friend can realize 
and enjoy. The ordinary medium of communication 
— the interchange of thought and feeling in by-gone 
days — has so far opened out to us their hidden springs, 
that this more subtle and refined intercourse of the 
spirit assumes almost the certainty of language. I 
am not now indulging in any vague dream of fancy. 
These are certain and instinctive premonitions of an 
eternal spiritual life, a life now imprisoned, hereafter 
to be free, a life which even here has sometimes 
strength enough to plume its wing, and at least strug- 
gle to soar to that perfect communion with kindred 
nature which it shall one day fully enjoy. 

" Much as I value your friendship on earth, dear 



1853.] ENJOYMENTS OF FUTURE LIFE. 137 

Sarah, I look forward, very often, to the time when it 
shall receive a nobler stamp, a higher impress, before 
the presence of God and holy angels. The thought 
would seem presumptuous, it does in some moods; 
but there are moments, such as Young describes as 
4 quite on the verge of heaven,' when the soul is lost 
in that loving confidence which appropriates His mer- 
its who hallowed human friendship, and left his own 
life as our example, itself adorned with one pre- 
eminently exalted friendship. There are moments 
when the expectation of such a consummation of our 
friendship seems anything but presumptuous. Our 
thoughts tend ever on and rest not in the present; 
a glorious foreshadowing this of the loftiness of our 
future life." 

Do they not err who are expecting the enjoyments of 
heaven to be altogether different in their nature from 
those of earth 1 Scripture teaches that there is an in- 
timate connection between the present and the future 
of our history. It represents the future as the con- 
summation of the present, the produce of seed we 
are now sowing. Necessarily we shall carry with us 
into the future world our mental and moral tastes and 
habits, for it is to form these we are sent here. 
Everything, therefore, that is a proper source of enjoy- 
ment to our moral nature here will be a source of 
enjoyment there. The contact of mind with mind 
will be as pleasing and as beneficial. Every earthly 
Christian friendship will be perpetuated, and of course 
" receive a nobler stamp." In fact we may infer from 
Scripture that the bond of intercourse will be mental 
and moral, rather than fleshly kindredship. 



138 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

She proceeds : " I have read Mrs. Judson's life. 
She was a fine woman. Her biographer, however, 
has spoiled the book. She was Dr. Judson's second 
wife, the worthy successor of the brilliant and accom- 
plished Ann H. Judson. She died on her passage 
from Burmah to America, and was buried at St. 
Helena. Some of her poetry is rich in simple pathos 
and genuine feeling. One poem has especially pleased 
me. It reminds me of Bishop Heber's : £ If thou wert 
by my side, love.' But the circumstances give it a 
deeper interest. She was about to part from her hus- 
band at the Isle of France, he to return to Burmah, 
she to seek renewed health in America. It proved a 
final parting. I will just copy the first and last verses, 
the last her fingers ever penned : 

1 We part on this green islet, love, 
Thou for the eastern main, 
I for the setting sun, love, 
! when to meet again?' 

' Then gird thine armor on, love, 
Nor faint thou by the way, 
Till Boodh shall fall, and Burmah's sons 
Shall own Messiah's sway.' 

After describing some exciting but unpleasant occur- 
rences, she thus addresses the same friend on July 1 : 
"Amid all this hurly-burly you will readily believe 
that I have not had much time for reading. I have, 
however, got through Charlotte Elizabeth's ' Personal 
Recollections,' with which I have been much pleased. 
I do not award unqualified admiration, but I admire 
her style, and her deep, earnest endeavors to promote 
the cause of Protestant truth, of religion and human- 



1853.] LONGFELLOW. 139 

ity. It is wonderful she accomplished so much with 
such a barrier to free communication. 

" Her deaf and dumb boy is quite a study. It is cu- 
rious to trace the strange originality of his ideas, and 
how luxuriant they became, as his kind patron assidu- 
ously uprooted the weeds in that moral waste, which be- 
came a garden of the Lord. If you have not read it, 
you would be greatly interested in the progress of his 
mental powers. From the strange notion that the 
stars were cut out with scissors, and stuck in the fir- 
mament with the end of a thumb, behold him rising 
to the sublime idea that the lightning was the opening 
and shutting of God's eye, and the rainbow the reflec- 
tion of his smile." 

In twenty days thoughts are flowing from the pen 
for the same friend again : " Don't you know Long- 
fellow is an especial favorite of mine, fantastic though 
he sometimes be? I should very much like to hear 
'Evangeline 1 well read. I like the 'Spanish Student.' 
Many of the passages have a great deal of beauty in 
them. There is a mine of heart- wealth in that reply 
of the gipsy-girl, contrasting her own ignorance with 
the varied learning of her lover, and clinging to him 
with all the deep devotion of her woman's heart, while 
measuring the distance between them she meekly, 
sadly, but nobly says : 

4 1 cannot reason, I can only feel ! 
But thou hast language for all thoughts and feelings. 
Thou art a scholar, and sometimes I think 
We cannot walk together in this world ; 
The distance that divides us is too great. 
Henceforth thy pathway lies among the stars — 
I must not hold thee back.' 



140 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

" Speaking of Longfellow reminds me of the sweet 
hours I spent with him in the Isle of Wight. What 
glorious minds we may commune with by our own 
hearth, while they are carrying on their operations in 
another hemisphere, or, perchance, in another world. 

" And. now farewell. The sun is shining, and ere 
my truants [her mother and a visitor] arrive, I should 
like half an hour's commune with Horace Smith amid 
the flowers — those floral apostles, that in dewy sjDlen- 
dor ' Weep without woe, and blush without a crime.' 
I wish you were with me ; I would resign Horace for 
that pleasure most gladly. As it is, however, I must 
away with my silent companion — 

1 Not to the domes, where crumbling arch and column 

Attest the feebleness of mortal hand, 
But to that fane, most catholic and solemn, 
Which God hath planned.' 

How vast and deep the love which God has treasured 
up in these ; ephemeral sages ' for our unfolding ! 

' What instructors hoary, 
For such a world of thought could furnish scope ? 
Each fading calyx a memento mori, 
Yet fount of hope.' " 

Many times, no doubt, as she had stood beneath 
Jackdaw Crag, and watched the liquid surface — now 
rippled, now " smooth as the polished mirror," 'but 
always reflecting the clear or clouded sky and numer- 
ous trees — and listened to the mingled notes, some- 
times, it may be, of fancied harmony, of the feathered 
songsters, a full tide of poetic sensibility had rushed 
through her soul. Would that she had frequently 



1853.] A SONNET. 141 

embodied her emotions, alike when her mood had 
given complexion to the scene and received complex- 
ion from it ! We have one poetic reminiscence writ- 
ten this summer. She entitled it 

A SONNET, 

WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF THE WHAKFE. 

Here is a refuge for the world- worn heart, 

A quiet nook where peace and plenty reign ; 
Where the lone spirit — writhing 'neath the smart 

Of bitter wrongs or crushed affection's pain, 
Or fainting in the battle line of life, 

Or struggling with the crested waves which rise 
In thundering rage — may gird itself for strife, 

Or arm for patient toil. Here weary eyes 
May feast, and pall not, upon Nature's charms, 

And in the shade of moss-grown rock and tree, 
Where low- voiced waters run 'neath sheltering arms 

Of crag and bower, the heart may learn on thee 
To lean, thou All-beneficent ! whose love and power 
Are pledged to guard thine own in every trying hour. 

There are those who would have us believe that to 
surrender the soul to evangelical religion is to robe it 
with gloom, and renounce all self-respect. Let such 
read the following lines, the breathings of Miss Hes- 
sel's inmost heart. They were not the utterance of a 
momentary excitement. She had first recorded the 
confessions they contain in her diary, and afterward, 
as we have seen, she transmitted them, as an act of 
reciprocity, to her friend in Leeds. With such self- 
abasement as a vivid view of the infinite majesty and 
purity of the Divine Nature cannot fail to inspire, 
there is no gloom, no asceticism, no self-despection. 
On the contrary, there is an expression of delightful 



142 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

filial feeling toward God, a deep sympathy with all 
that is bright and joyous in nature as being but the 
dim reflection of his ineffable goodness, and a glowing 
exultation in the prospect of endless existence. It is 
an unutterable solace to her dearest friends that one 
so buoyant, whose conduct had not un frequently ex- 
posed her to the charge of frivolity, should now find 
cherished sustenance for her higher nature in contem- 
plations so tranquilizing and ennobling. 

"AN INVOCATION." 

Eternal Spirit ! thou who reign' st supreme 

O'er the wide earth, and the unnumbered worlds 

On which I gaze enrapt in silent awe ; 

Thou who hast hung on high those glorious gems 

Spangling the outstretched curtains of thy throne ; 

Thou who art Sovereign Lord of all that is, 

Of all that from eternity hath been, 

And through immense eternity shall be, 

To thee I cry : and from the solitude 

Of thy majestic temple dare to raise 

My feeble, faltering song. And canst thou deign, 

From the unshadowed glory of that throne 

Which angels gaze not on, to hear my prayer, 

And listen to an erring mortars praise ? 

Father in heaven, all things are thine — thy care 

And thy creation — who thyself dost reign 

Throned above all, th' Eternal, Uncreate : 

All things are thine, and all thy sovereign care, 

From the rapt seraph, who forever stands 

Nearest the dazzling glory of thy throne, 

To the minutest thing that doth rejoice 

In the young fleeting life which thou hast given. 

And I am thine ! I tremble when I think 

Of the great universe thou dost sustain, 

Of worlds that sprang to order at thy word, 

And sink to chaos when thou dost command ; 

My heart is bowed within me, and I feel 



1853.] AN INVOCATION. 143 

A cipher 'mid uncounted millions, 
An atom on creation's boundless shore, 
A speck on ocean's vast unfathomed waste. 
Yet, All-beneficent ! I bless thy name 
That thou hast made my being like thyself— 
Immortal. Here, in thy solemn temple, 
Under the lofty dome thy hand hath reared, 
Amid the dark woods' twilight solitude, 
Alone with thee, I worship and adore. 

Father ! Lord ! though wide be thy domain, 
Thine eye pierces my being, reads each thought, 
Scans present, past, and future. O ! I seem 

To stand, reading the record of the past, 

Beneath the blaze of thy omniscience, 

The record of my folly, sin, and pride. 

Before thee I confess them all. My soul 

In its unfolding bloom went strangely out, 

Questioning things around me of thy being, 

Nature, essence. But wayward and perverse, 

Of thine I learned not thee. When riper years 

Built up their meed of folly, I had dared, 

Spurning the lessons of thy love, to doubt 

Thy care and goodness, and forgetting all 

With which thy love had blessed me, my proud heart 

Yearned for the gifts thou hadst denied — wealth, fame 

With clarion voice, and beauty's dower, the rush 

Of ' winged words,' the gift of lofty song. 

All these hath my young heart desired, in these 

Had fancy given to happiness her home. 

But now, Father ! wise, and just, and good, 
My Father ! now I bless thy name for what 
Thy wisdom hath denied ; and would adore 
The goodness which so richly hath bestowed. 

1 thank thee, Lord, that thou hast tuned my heart 
To nature's symphonies ; that all its chords 
Vibrate with joyous music ; and bound high 

To join the harmony which swells the deep. 
Unceasing paean of the universe. 



144 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 



CHAPTER VI. 

One of the remarkable Features of the Bible — J. B. Gough — 
Valuable Lessons learned from Annoyances — Longfellow — 
Misinterpretations of Providence — Southey's Life of Cowper 
— xilexander Smith's Life Drama — John Howe's Eemark 
on Pantheism — Nature an Educational Agent — The Min- 
istering Angel. 

It is one of the many remarkable features of the 
Bible that it supplies materials suited to every vari- 
* ety of thinkers. The philosopher and poet, as well as 
the divine, may there find large employment for their 
powers. It is almost as ample a storehouse of themes 
for the poet as for the preacher. One of its historical 
events was now engaging the attention of Miss Hes- 
sel with a view to a poem. After narrating numerous 
engagements, she says to Miss N. on August 23 : 
" I did, however, spend the whole of yesterday morn- 
ing in study. My subject was an interesting one; 
the revolt of the Ten Tribes, Jeroboam's acces- 
sion, with the circumstances connected therewith, up 
to Abijah's death. The result you may see some 
day in a little blank-verse poem, which is now in 
progress. 

" I suppose you will have heard of our drive to 
Leeds a week ago. We arrived at the Music Hall at 
seven, where we met your brother, and managed to 
find standing room at the extreme end of the hall, 
where, by the aid of your brother's shoulder, and the 
kind assistance of a dapper little gentleman from 



1853.] JOHN B. GOUGH. 145 

Baines's office, I managed to maintain my equilibrium 
on the edge of a plank for two mortal hours. But I 
was abundantly repaid by the eloquent oration of Mr. 
Gough. I never listened to a man of such diversified 
natural talents, nor heard a history so strangely roman- 
tic. Totally uneducated, he has been raised from the 
very depths of social degradation. Stripped of wife, 
children, and parents ; every tie which bound him to 
humanity wrenched asunder ; and degraded, in his own 
eyes, to a leprous, polluted thing, which it would be an 
act of mercy to crush out of existence, see him rising 
at the age of twenty-five, and having startled most of 
the cities of the Union with his thrilling eloquence, he 
has come to England by special invitation. Intense 
study and excessive labor have much impaired his 
health, but, at thirty years of age, he seems in the full 
bloom of mental vigor. It requires a more vivid pen 
than mine to describe his style, since he can appar- 
ently adopt any and be original in all. He will 
sketch a scene with the most minute and delicate pen- 
ciling; burst upon you with a rush of overwhelming 
eloquence; shrivel up your heart with the most cut- 
ting sarcasms, stroke after stroke, each one finer and 
more pointed than the last ; melt you to tears with 
his thrilling pathos and touching appeals ; convulse you 
with laughter at his lifelike descriptions and inimita- 
ble mimicry; and finally, after having touched and 
wound up the master-chord of every bosom in a vast 
assembly, with a genuine childlike simplicity he will 
acknowledge his gratitude to God for the position to 
which he is raised, and confess that he holds it only 
by faith in the atonement, and simple, constant reli- 



146 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

ance on the strength which God supplies. I wish you 
could have heard him." 

" It seemed something like a comfort," she writes to 
her cousin at Howden on August 26, " to see such a 
respectable letter from you, especially after one had 
been ignorant of your whereabouts in this round world 
for some months. I am right glad to hear you have 
enjoyed yourself so much. You know my maxim is, 
there's nothing like traveling, and no mode of travel- 
ing like that of steam, whether by land or sea. It is 
glorious to be one of that ' half a living world,' borne 
along by the great fire-horse over valleys and through 
mountains, running races with the wind, and annihila- 
ting time and distance. But as I have not got much 
to annihilate this morning, I -must not let my fancy 
run away with my wits. I will only add that I hope 
to hear all about your journey from your own lips 
ere long." 

Her brother, who had now completed his allowed 
term of ministerial service at Bristol, was naturally 
wishful to be nearer his widowed mother, and was ap- 
pointed to the Woodhouse Grove Circuit, to reside at 
Idle. Miss Hessel, in company with a sister of Mrs. 
William's, who was on a visit to Boston Spa, joined 
them on the day of their arrival. It is not surprising 
that Mrs. William's first impressions were unfavora- 
ble. She was not only, for the first time, taking up 
her residence among strangers, and exchanging a city 
for a straggling, irregularly built village, but the man- 
ners of the people contrasted unfavorably with those 



1853.] VISITS HER BROTHER AT IDLE. 147 

of her previous acquaintance. And " troubles seldom 
come alone." Our friend's letter to Miss S. R. fur- 
nishes too just a glimpse of some inconveniences at- 
tendant on the life of a Wesleyan minister, and too 
interesting an exhibition of the writer, to be sup- 
pressed. September 6th : " I have sat down this 
morning feeling very doubtful whether to laugh or cry, 
but finding the former more agreeable, have had an 
explosion, and now proceed. I shall certainly not soon 
forget the experience of the last three days. We 
found Sarah very low, Minnie very mischievous, and 
a lazy, half-witted woman in the house, who began to 
be ill on Sunday, and after frightening us dreadfully 
by most unearthly noises was dismissed. On Mon- 
day we got a little girl. But a troop of events hap- 
pened before that. 

" Fanny went out of chapel poorly in the evening. 
During the night she was taken worse, and without < 
light or anybody to get one, we passed some misera- 
ble hours. At length matters grew so bad that I was 
compelled to grope my way in this strange house and 
find some matches. Fanny spent the night in sickness 
and violent retchings. No doctor can be had here. 
The old one died last week, and the circuit-steward 
had to fetch one from Bradford. A young Methodist 
doctor came, very clever, I understand ; a preacher's 
son, too, whose sympathies therefore were soon enlisted 
in our favor. Fanny is much better this morning, but 
Mr. L. says she has been very ill, and had not the 
medicine taken effect, she would now have been in a 
very precarious state. 

"- It was an amusing scene to see him standing by 
10 



148 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

her bedside, she pertinaciously maintaining she must 
get up, and he, with his tall figure, good head and eyes, 
but most remarkably mild and gentle expression of 
countenance, and low, unassuming voice, saying : ' I 
will not allow you, though of course I cannot hinder 
you.' Poor Fanny, she was compelled to submit, not- 
withstanding the easy, manageable look of this undoc- 
torlike young doctor. He has just departed, and 1 
hope we shall have no callers to-day. Fanny is to 
nurse, and if I were to tell you the diversity of my 
employments yesterday, the incessant toil, yet infinite 
variety, which kept me at it from four o'clock in the 
morning until ten at night, you would think it almost 
incredible. William and I had many a laugh over it. 

" I have philosophized on these matters with some 
advantage, I hope. I have learned that a thing may be 
noble or ignoble, according to the spirit in which it is 
performed ; that labor is dignified when it is rightly 
estimated, and that usefulness is more honorable than 
that false refinement which despises it. There are two 
sides to every subject, and the brightest is best worth 
looking at. It is not quite easy, I admit, to accom- 
plish this, but it is possible, and the effort is valuable 
apart from its results, But my egotism must come 
to an end." 

On the 19th she writes to the same friend: "Since 
I came home 1 have begun to study a little; but I 
have no results worth communicating at present. I 
feel sadly deficient in mental energy. My mind is 
painfully exercised sometimes. I have an increasing 
conviction that my duty lies in the direction I have 
previously intimated to you, and though my efforts at 



1853.] ONWARD AND UPWARD. 149 

present must be humble, I feel convinced that the 
great truths which take firmest hold of me are 
unpalatable to the mass of religious readers in the 
present day. I have many disadvantages, and my 
poor head is sometimes racked with thoughts which 
few could understand. Occasionally I feel a desire 
to quench the aspirations of this intellectual life 
within me, but I dare not. However little of happi- 
ness it may bring, and however much of mental toil 
it may involve, I feel that my motto must be ' on- 
ward and upward ;' must be, because there is a moral 
obligation resting upon every human being to do . 
what he can for God and his fellow-men. 

4 Art is long, and time is fleeting, 
And our hearts, though stout and brave, 

Still, like muffled drums, are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave. 

' Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait.' 

"I was charmed with a remark made by a lady to 
Mrs. Stowe in Maine, Longfellow's birthplace, the 
forests of which are described in his introduction to 
Evangeline. Reading his poems amid the scenery 
which has given such lifelike beauty to them, she 
remarked: ' He must have learned his measure from 
the sea ; there is just its beautiful ripple in all his 
verses.' After hearing this the singular music of 
Evangeline has a double charm. One or tw T o pas- 
sages are now lying before me that strikingly illus- 
trate its truth. There is something exquisitely beau- 



150 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

tiful In the truest poet of nature setting the sweet 
fresh poetry of his heart to the music of the waves. 

" I envied you the honor and pleasure of an intro- 
duction to Mrs. Stowe. May be that happiness 
is yet in store for me, though a world of waters will 
soon lie between us. There is a very good explana- 
tion of ' Make to yourselves friends of the mammon 
of unrighteousness ' in her ' tale : ' It is more blessed 
to give than to receive.' " 

Her health improved so greatly during this sum- 
mer that a hope of protracted life began to dawn. 
This was welcomed not so much for the sake of real- 
izing enjoyment as usefulness. Though this involved 
conflict, as she well knew, she deemed that no reason 
for not desiring or attempting it. She writes on 
October 8 : " More than seven months have elapsed 
since I made an entry in this book, and in reviewing 
the last record I have been struck with the change 
which has slowly, but steadily, been working in my 
mind w T ith reference to life. I feel a growing anxiety 
to do something for God and my fellow-creatures 
before I leave this world, and for this reason my de- 
sire to live has become ardent. I think I am right 
in the conviction that my chief medium of usefulness 
must be my pen. Often have I spread this matter 
before God, and while endeavoring to cultivate the 
talents he has given me I have been sustained by the 
hope of his blessing on my toil. Temptations of a 
painful nature have assailed me, and I have some- 
times almost yearned to quench the aspirations of this 
intellectual life, and to shake off my responsibilities 



1853.] PROVIDENCE. 151 

to God for the talents he has bestowed. O the 
mental conflict I have endured ! But, generally- 
speaking, my thoughts on this subject have been of a 
more pleasing character, and I have been thankful 
that my lot has been cast amid circumstances favora- 
ble to the development of my mental powers." 

Early in this month she paid a visit to her uncle at 
Howden. A letter, in an unusually somber strain, 
is addressed to Miss N. on October 19. "I al- 
ways notice," says she, " that when one sad memory 
takes possession of the heart it is like a magnet, it 
attracts dozens more, until the c chambers of imagery ' 
are hung with sable, and every picture of light and 
beauty is hid in the dim folds of its drapery." 

Two days afterward she says to Miss S. R. : "I am 
now about fifty pages deep in the life of Sir Fowell 
Buxton. I am reading it with great interest and 
some care. You know that I generally stumble upon 
books in a very accidental way. I have had the cu- 
riosity to mark of late the character of such as I have 
thus met with, and with a grateful observance of the 
minute arrangements of Providence I am led to think 
that an unseen hand has supplied those best fitted to 
prepare me for the life I have chosen. The last five 
words are spoken in faith, for truly sight cannot pene- 
trate that life, and distant indeed, even to my faith, does 
the realization of my wishes appear. Still I am doing 
something, though it be but girding on my armor," 

It is the delight of the devout, as it is the duty 
of all, to observe " the minute arrangements of 
Providence." For the sake of young readers, how- 
ever, it may be needful to utter a caution against 



152 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853. 

misinterpretation of the designs of Providence. For 
the same reason that the Almighty prohibited the 
tempting fruit of a tree he himself planted in the gar- 
den of Eden, he requires us to avoid many tempting 
books placed in our way. A twofold purpose is 
clearly intended by all the occurrences of life. One 
is to reveal our character, the other to aid in its form- 
ation. It is needful for the invigoration of virtuous 
principle, that it be sometimes exercised in acts of re- 
sistance. Whenever, therefore, the agreeable becomes 
the practicable a call arises for the inquiry : Is this to 
be accepted or rejected ? And that question is to be 
answered solely on grounds relating to the divine will. 

Gratifying as it is to find Miss Hessel thus recog- 
nizing Providence, there is much less cause for sur- 
prise in the fact to which she adverts than at first 
view might appear. She was not likely, in the cir- 
cles in which she moved, to meet with books unsuita- 
ble for her perusal. The ever-increasing supply of 
literature renders it increasingly important to exer- 
cise discretion in our choice. Solomon's aphorism, 
" He that walketh with wise men shall be wise ; but 
a companion of fools shall be destroyed," is worthy 
the earnest consideration of all readers. 

She proceeds : " I am dotting down thoughts in a 
very medley style, and I believe my first humble 
effort will be a short paper for our ' Miscellany,' ad- 
dressed to the young, on the importance of making 
life a useful and honorable thing. 

" I could not in a letter, nor indeed in any other 
way, tell you a fraction of the temptations or perplex- 
ities which assail me, of the racking thoughts which 



1853.] SECTAKIANISM CONDEMNED. 153 

find no anodyne but prayer. Again and again have I 
to say to myself, as I would say to those who may 
have patience enough to follow my 'thought-tracks:' 
True, God has not called you to the lofty task of 
writing upon that blackened monument of a nation's 
disgrace, the American slave law, the sentence of 
destruction, holding it up for every nation of the 
earth, Christian and pagan, to arise and ratify. But 
because you are not one of those master-spirits 
which sometimes alight upon the world as pioneers 
in its great moral reforms, pointing the nations to 
the dawning of that day of millennial glory which 
shall surely come, have you no part or lot in this 
matter % no trophy to win i in the world's wide field 
of battle ' for Him who won eternal life for you % no 
work in the vineyard which your Saviour's blood 
hath purchased, and which he hath given to his 
Church to cultivate % 

"Many practical subjects start up before me to 
which I feel almost irresistibly drawn. I wish to 
clothe my thoughts upon them in appropriate and 
concise language, and to enforce them by short earnest 
appeals to reason and the Bible. Some of these are 
founded on passages in our Lord's sermon on the 
mount. How much I should like to personify the 
spirit of sectarianism which exists in the present day, 
and hold it up to receive the condemnation of the 
Gospel of Christ." 

This was not a sudden and therefore transient 
feeling. Hers was a truly catholic spirit. From 
her inmost heart she said : " Grace be with all 
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincer- 



154 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1853 

ity." Will not every reader join in that supplica- 
tion? How unutterably to be regretted, that differ- 
ence of opinion in matters of creed or polity should 
constitute a barrier to heart-intercourse among the 
followers of the same Saviour, the expectants of the 
same everlasting home ! Shall the servant adopt a 
more rigid standard of requirement than the Master ? 
Shall we exclude from our fraternal regards those 
whom we believe he not only accepts but approves 
and honors ? Is not this essentially an antiprotestant, 
as well as antichristian, spirit ? Is it not virtually to 
deny the right of judgment to others? Nay, is it not 
the incarnation of presumption and pride, by arrogat- 
ing to ourselves the capability and right of determin- 
ing what is to be held and practiced in matters for 
which persons are accountable to none but God? 
Let those who cherish sectarianism hold themselves 
prepared to give substantial reasons for it. And 
especially let those who fraternize more cordially 
with those who differ from them on points they hold 
to be vital, than with those who differ on points held 
to be secondary only, ask themselves how they can 
justify such conduct. 

"My dear girl," she proceeds, "your sphere of 
action is a vastly important one. None but an in- 
finite mind can grasp the results of your labor in that 
one department of your toil for God and man — the 
Sabbath-school. O ! when we get to heaven, and 
trace influence in all its infinite ramifications, we shall 
wonder that we allowed any opportunity to pass of 
sowing seed, seed which may bear such mighty produce, 
and which never can return to the sower unfruitful !" 



1853.] LETTER TO A FRIEND. 155 

After a very pleasant visit of nearly six weeks she 
returned to Boston Spa, and on December 1 assures 
the same friend "it would be charity of the very 
noblest kind" if she would come and spend a week 
with her. Three weeks after, however, she makes 
known the tribute she can levy from disappointment 
even : " You may imagine how disappointed I felt that 
you did not come. And yet the anticipation was 
more dreadful than the reality. Is there not always 
more intensity of feeling in the anticipation of a thing 
than in the reality ? I think I have always found it 
so in sorrow. There is a natural adaptation of the 
mind to circumstances, which is in itself a blessing of 
no mean order. 

" I must borrow from Bishop Heber, and say, l If 
thou wert by my side, love,' here, on this matter-of- 
fact sofa, I think we should discuss a few things ' in 
particular' with some earnestness. I have thought 
a great deal about ' you and* yours,' although ' I and 
mine' have engrossed so much attention lately. I 
have just cut up into spells the first draft of a paper 
which is now on its way to that mysterious personage, 
the editor of a London periodical. 'Tis a very humble 
effort, but it has gone to a very unpretending magazine. 
I was too intensely dissatisfied with it to dress it up 
as neatly as might have been. There is but one thought 
which prevents me eschewing pens, ink, and paper for- 
ever — it is the imperative duty of trying to be useful. 
How easy it is writing to you ! Were it but as easy 
to write for the public it would be mere child's play, a 
simple pouring out of the soul through the pen, as nat- 
ural as a child's confidence to its mother, and as easy. 



156 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

" I am somewhat of an invalid ; neither poorly 
enough to lie in bed, nor well enough to be of any 
use up. I have suffered a great deal from mental 
depression for the last few days. This has been 
partly from natural causes, over which I had no con- 
trol, and partly the result of my sedentary habits, 
which, of course, I could have controlled.' 5 

There is more in this brief statement than some may 
see. To regard it as simply explanatory of her own 
case, is, no doubt, to extract all the meaning she in- 
tended, but certainly not all it admits. How many 
instances of mental depression, of bodily affliction, of 
death, even, are there, of which it may not be affirmed 
that the cause was partly beyond, and partly within 
control? Science may now be said to have demon- 
strated that human health is just as much the subject 
of law as animal or vegetable health. There is the 
same propriety in attributing exhaustion from toil, or 
feebleness from fasting to Providence, as lost health. 
They are all results. It is provided by the Allwise 
Ruler that those w T ho neglect physical requirements 
shall sooner or later experience physical suffering. 
Ignorance is no shield from the penalty of trans- 
gression in divine, any more than in human admin- 
istration. 

One of her young friends, now resident in the me- 
tropolis, had elicited the promise of a poetical com- 
position. After informing Miss S. R., now on a visit 
to that friend, that she was but little improved, and 
that medical aid had been procured, she apologizes 
for the delay. January 20, 1854 ; " Give my love to 



1854.] COWPER'S APOLOGY. 157 

Miss Elizabeth, and tell her how vexed, mortified, 
and ashamed I am to delay the fulfillment of her 
request. My ears did burn furiously, and on that 
veritable Friday evening, too, so much so that I really 
wondered whether anybody was talking about me, 
and I repeated : ' Has a strange mysterious feeling ' 
etc., you know the rest. I leave the fact for you to 
reflect upon, perhaps until you bring to light a prin- 
ciple more subtle than animal magnetism — a spiritual 
telegraph, to whose messages our attention is called 
by ear-burning instead of bell-ringing. Ah ! there are 
indeed ' more things in heaven and earth than are 
dreamt of in our philosophy.'" 

" I am just wishing, dearest Sarah," she again writes 
to her Leeds friend on March 13, " that I could give 
you, in Cowper's own words, his apology to Mr. 
Newton. I adopt the thought, however, and tell you 
that if you wish to be remembered by me you are 
never more effectually so than when I am in your 
debt. I think of you continually, and one reason 
why I have commenced a task to which I really felt 
averse is, that I may not only think of you less, but 
think of you with more pleasure. I have written so 
many letters since I saw you that 1 have really hated 
the sight of a pen for the last few days, especially as I 
have been suffering all those qualmish, languid feel- 
ings which generally oppress me in early spring. I 
feel ashamed, however, that more than a week has 
elapsed since I parted with you, and my promise to 
write is only beginning to be fulfilled. 

" I have just read Southey's Life of Cowper, and 
am now reveling in his letters. How melancholy 



158 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

his life has made me ? and yet that last sentence which 
closes Mr. Johnson's account of him almost makes one 
exult. ' From that moment [his death] till the coffin 
was closed, the expression with which his countenance 
had settled was that of calmness and composure, 
mingled as it were with holy surprise.'" 

" Alexander Smith has a few gems in his book," 
(Life Drama,) she writes to the same friend again on 
April 22, " as many as I expected in so short a poem. 
Some of his thoughts are very beautiful. He does 
not however touch the lyre with such a master-hand 
as Philip Baillie. Making due allowance for the dif- 
ference in the length of the poems, there are richer 
pearls strewed more profusely in Baillie's poem than 
in Smith's. Baillie is more truly, deeply, intensely a 
poet. How subtilly Smith distorts truth to uphold a 
heterodox opinion, or to favor that mystic refined infi- 
delity which poetry has so metamorphosed and tricked 
out that the Devil might be pardoned for not knowing 
his own child. Listen : 



Again : 



c Love is a sanctifier ; His a moon, 
Turning each, dusk to silver ; a pure light, 
Redeemer of all errors.' 

( Walter, dost thou believe 
Love will redeem all errors 1 my friend, 
This gospel saves you ! doubt it, you are lost.' 



This reminds one of many a Gospel truth, and at first 
sight it does not look unlike the sweet truth which our 
Saviour uttered concerning the penitent and pardoned 
Mary Magdalene, But ah! how unlike. What a 



1854.] RATIONALISM. 159 

gem that ' glorious guide' of Walter's 'proud boy- 
hood ' must have been ! Hark ! 

1 He loved all things, 
From God to foam-bells dancing down a stream, 
With a most equal love.' 

In plain prose he was an innocent fool ; or, more 
charitably, a man with a warm heart, but very ill- 
balanced judgment. To love foam-bells may evince 
peculiar poetic sensibility, but to love these with an 
affection i equal ' to that cherished toward God is 
impious." 

After a criticism on the same work, addressed to 
Mr. F., she writes : " A gentleman told a friend of 
mine the other day that he believes ' Festus ' to be an 
inspired book, and did not hesitate to reckon it an- 
other revelation. I confess I am horrified at such 
things, and I tremble for the youth of the land, even 
the religiously educated youth. There is so much in 
this rationalism, or subtle modification of it, which 
ministers to intellectual pride, and offers incense on 
the altar of human vanity, that it becomes highly 
dangerous. Where open infidelity would be cast off 
as a viper, it 

4 Creeps through the chambers of the soul, 
Like a foul toad, polluting as it goes.' 

I do not ask Mr. Smith's pardon for such an applica- 
tion of his slightly altered lines. He would not 
grant it if I did. John Howe, the brightest star of 
divinity in Cromwellian times, flashed the light of his 
unclouded intellect on this subject in one sentence. 
It was scarcely known in England in his day — this 



160 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

same doctrine of God in every thing, and no personal 
presence any where. ' It amounts to the same thing,' 
said he, 'as infidelity. The one proclaims there is no 
God, the other leaves no creatures to worship him.' " 

Early in April she learned from her sister-in-law 
that her brother was taken alarmingly ill while at- 
tending a meeting of the committee of the Wood- 
house Grove School, and that the nature of his com- 
plaint rendered it unadvisable to remove him for 
some days or possibly weeks. "Your letter this 
morning made us all sad," she promptly replies, " but 
I am pleased to find your own spirit is so hopeful. I 
thought of writing you to-day, not having the least 
idea you were in distress. We feel thankful that 
William and yourself are in such comfortable quar- 
ters, and have such kind attention. Tell me if I can 
do anything for you, or be of any service to you in 
any way. How well to be prepared for all the con- 
tingencies of life." 

In a letter to Mr. B. she says : " I am alone this 
evening, and have been standing for some time by the 
window watching the silvery snow as it w T as driven 
by the fitful wind in blinding showers, to the discom- 
fiture of many a luckless wight who had dared its 
fury. I have enjoyed a long walk this afternoon to 
the Paper-mill Bar. The landscape presented a charm- 
ing and novel appearance, and as I looked across the 
valley in w r hich our village is situated, I almost felt as 
if it had become a purer clime. Like every other 
beautiful thing in nature, it not only bears a myste- 
rious analogy to our moral nature, but as a silent 



1854.] NATURE AN EDUCATIONAL AGENT. ,161 

monitor it has its own language interpreted in the 
answering echoes of every human heart. For 

4 Like the many fair hopes of our years, 
It glitters awhile, then melts into tears.' 

' The world is full of types,' says Cheever ; ' it is an 
education by types and analogies. The reigning con- 
stitutional ideas in the soul of man are counterparted, 
as it were, in the forms of nature. The constitution 
of our globe has been arranged for their development.' 
Lord Bacon has remarked, he says, ' It is the glory of 
God to conceal a thing, but of man to find it out; just 
as if the Divine Spirit were wont to be pleased with 
the innocent and gentle sport of children, who hide 
themselves that they may be found ; and had chosen 
the human soul as a playmate out of his indulgence 
and goodness toward man !' This is a lovely picture 
of divine condescension. But it is not for our enjoy- 
ment merely that we are lured on in the search. 
There is combined with this gratification of the in- 
stincts of our nature a beautifully perfect and unique 
system of education for our moral and spiritual being. 
Alas ! that we should be so insensible to the great 
truth that man was not made for the world, but the 
world for man. 

44 Until, however, the rudely blasted image of the 
Divine original is in some measure restored to man 
by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, the visible 
forms of nature, as agents for his education for eter- 
nity, are unmeaning and void. True, there are in un- 
renewed minds instinctive yearnings which bring tnem 
into fellowship of an elevating character with the silent 



162 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

utterances of Jehovah. But this fellowship, in its in- 
distinct and but partial development, only proves 
that there still linger around our fallen' humanity 
traces of primeval grandeur and beauty — faint and 
faded rays of the reflected glory which adorned the 
brow and encompassed the moral nature of the first 
man in Paradise." 

" The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed 

If Thou the Spirit give by which I pray : 

My unassisted heart is barren clay, 
Which of its native self can nothing feed. 
Of good and pious works thou art the seed, 

Which quickens only when thou say est it may. 

Unless thou show to us thine own true way, 
No man can find it, Father ! Thou must lead. 

Do thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my niiud 
By which such virtue may in me be bred, 
That in thy holy footsteps I may tread. 

The fetters of my tongue do thou unbind, 
That I may have the power to sing of thee, 
And sound thy praises everlastingly !" 

Though not published till a subsequent period, the 
following was composed by this time. It was en- 
titled 

THE MINISTERING ANGEL. 

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for 
them who shall be heirs of salvation ? Heb. i. 14. 

I saw a vision. 'Neath a lowly roof 

I marked a maiden young, with streaming eyes 

And hands uplifted, bend as if in prayer. 

Amid her raven tresses, and the folds 

Of her deep sable robe, there beamed a face 

So sadly fair it seemed unearthly ; while 

Her slender form was fixed as sculptured marble. 

But I gazed 'till thrice her swelling bosom 



1854.] THE MINISTERING ANGEL. 163 

Heaved convulsive, and her quivering lips 
Thrice strove to bear the burden of her prayer, 
Yet seemed unable. Then I nearer drew, 
And stilled the throbbings of my heart, to hear 
The fullness of her laden soul burst forth 
From those blanched lips. 

" Father in heaven !" she said, 
And paused ; while o'er her features came the deep 
Dark shadow of a mute despair. It passed. 
And then, as hope triumphant rose, she clasped 
Her tenuous fingers, and in one wild burst 
Of passionate prayer, exclaimed, "Father in heaven, 
Be thou the orphan's friend !" 

I saw a seraph ; 
One who had fulfilled a high commission 
From th' Eternal Sire, and now returning, 
With lightning speed his shining form passed 
Through the ambient air. He paused. His face 
Beamed sympathy and love. Could angels weep, 
He would have wept ; but bending low, he caught 
The echo of that prayer. Then, quick as thought, 
He plumed his radiant wing, and upward flew. 
I graced his flight past suns and systems, worlds 
And planets in their course. Still onward, through 
Vast white-robed ranks of angels, countless hosts 
Of cherubim and seraphim, and all 
The blood-bought souls of the redeemed, onward 
And upward still he flew ; nor dropped his wing 
Till at the star- encircled throne he bent 
'Mid the cloud-curtained glory. 

Heaven's high song 
Was hushed, and music slept upon the strings 
Of every golden lyre. 

From the white throne, 
Whose dazzling radiance, all unvaried, no eye 
Of man or angel might behold unscathed, 
The Almighty Father spake. 

Swift as if borne 
On wings of light the obedient seraph flew ; 
And I beheld him pour the healing balm 
Into the heart of that young mourner : yet 
11 



164 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

She saw him not, but in her inmost soul 
She heard the whisper of that " still, small voice." 
Quickly she rose, and with uplifted hands, 
And smiling lips, and joy-lit eye, exclaimed, 
"I thank thee, my God!" 

Then back to realms 
Of cloudless day the minist'ring angel passed, 
And joined the myriads of that happy band, 
While fresh-strung harps swelled out the bursting song 
Of " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord !" 

The radiant vision passed away. I woke. 
But still the strains of that exultant song 
Hung softly brooding o'er my lowly couch, 
Filling my wond'ring soul with holy joy ; 
While still there floated in my listening ear 
That "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." 



1854.] HER NUMEROUS AVOCATION'S. 165 



CHAPTER VII. 

Life of Dr. Chalmers — Eev. Gervase Smith — Bazar at Eccles- 
hill — Her Model of a Woman — How hidden Strength is brought 
out — An Incident turned to good Account — An interesting- 
Italian — Phases of Inner Life — The Employments of Heaven 

— War — Perils of her early Mental History — Female Authors 

— A Spiritual Anodyne — Nearness to Christ — Talfourd's Me- 
morials of Charles Lamb — An affectionate Appeal to an uncon- 
verted Friend. 

Miss Hessel had less leisure for the acquisition of 
knowledge than would be supposed. The whole house- 
hold duties were performed by the mother and her 
two daughters, the younger of whom, in consequence 
of delicate health, was unable to take her share. The 
service rendered by Miss Hessel to the " Sewing 
Society " was considerable, often beyond what pru- 
dence warranted. Her large circle of friends entailed 
an extensive correspondence. Nearly four hundred 
letters have come into the writer's possession, most 
of them containing eight, and many twelve or more 
pages of note-paper closely written ; and these are 
but a selection. The value placed upon her society 
involved the consumption of much time in paying 
and receiving visits. In addition to the active service 
rendered to her own religious community, she en- 
gaged this summer in a general canvass of the village 
for subscribers to the British and Foreign Bible Soci- 
ety. Supplementary to all this she frequently assist- 
ed efforts in distant places to promote philanthropic 
and religious projects. A bazar about to be held at 



166 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

Eccleshill, a village in her brother's circuit, to pro- 
mote the erection of a new sanctuary, was now taxing 
her energies. "I rise between five and six," says she, 
" sometimes at four, and seem to have my hands quite 
full during the day." 

Her thirst for knowledge was unabated, however, 
amid these pressing calls of active duty. "Though I 
am fully employed," she says to Miss S. R. on June 
12, "I manage to read a little. How, I can scarcely 
tell you. But I am fixed in my determination that 
this last blessed boon of my life shall not be wrested 
from me. My library at present consists of ' Geology 
of the Isle of Wight,' 'Tasso's Life,' and 'Jerusalem 
Delivered,' the last number of the 'London Quar- 
terly,' ' Naomi, or the Last Days of Jerusalem,' — a 
good tale of the siege, with which you would feel in- 
terested — and lastly, I am fascinated beyond measure 
with the ' Life of Dr. Chalmers.' " 

" It is Sabbath afternoon," she writes to the same 
friend a fortnight later, " a stillness almost oppressive 
reigns within and without. The rain is falling noise- 
lessly. It has quenched the music of all but one 
or two daring songsters, whose clear shrill notes are 
the only sounds which occasionally disturb the unu- 
sually audible tick-tick of the timepiece. While I 
write the rain suddenly descends in ' noisy torrents, 
and the courage of my feathered minstrels is fairly 
quashed. 

" Well, at this hour for thought I review the past, 
and with a feeling of pensive gratitude record the 
loving-kindness of my heavenly Father. The deep 
cloud under which I had been walking for some time, 



1854.] LIFE OF DR. CHALMERS. 167 

when I last wrote you, had a silver lining, and soon 
after my letter was dispatched it turned outward a 
little fringe of light, which has been deepening and 
widening ever since. One sometimes wonders in the 
retrospect that the trial should have been felt so 
keenly. When the deliverance has been wrought 
out, we see how much more patience we might have 
exercised, and how many fears we might have quelled. 
We could have done this if we had foreseen the issue. 
O how this rebukes our unbelief! How lamentable 
our want of faith in the power and wisdom and love 
of our Father ! O this cursed unbelief ! this mill- 
stone around our necks, which prevents our aspirations 
after growth in grace from being realized ! May you 
and I be delivered from it ! 

" I am getting on with the second volume of Chal- 
mers, and am deeply interested. I like his views on 
faith exceedingly. They harmonize most beautifully 
with the teachings under which I found the way of 
salvation, and, as I of course think, with the word of 
God. I very much admire his letters to his sister 
Mrs. Morton, when passing through that stage of her 
religious history where she saw ' men as trees walk- 
ing.' Here is a precious passage, which has abounded 
with comfort to my own mind : ' The sun in the firma- 
ment is often faintly seen through a cloud, but the 
spectator may be no less looking to him than when he 
is seen in full and undiminished effulgence. It is not 
to him who sees Christ brightly that the promises are 
made, but to him who looks to Christ. A bright view 
may minister comfort, but it is the looking which 
ministers safety.' 



168 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

" I am wishful to close my long letter as nearly as 
possible to-night. To-morrow we are going to Tad- 
caster to their missionary anniversary, so that I shall 
not have much time. 

"We have had a blessed Sabbath; an excellent 
sermon from Mr. Hudson this evening from 4 Ye are 
my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.' He 
spoke of individual witnessing for God amid the dis- 
honor cast upon the holy name by those around us ; 
of witnessing as a Christian people against Sabbath 
desecration; and of witnessing as a nation against 
the infidelity and indifference manifested toward God. 
Some of his remarks on individual testimony for God 
were very striking. O how we undervalue our own 
influence ! I feel very deeply and painfully on this 
subject sometimes. I think that I too readily imagine 
that in using my pen in the service of God I am ex- 
onerated from the more difficult, and to me particu- 
larly distressing duty of witnessing with my mouth." 

The reader, not personally acquainted with Miss 
Hessel, will wonder at this concluding statement. The 
wonder will be dispelled when it is stated that she 
had an impediment in her utterance. It was con- 
tracted in her girlhood by the circumstance, it is 
believed, of a domestic being thus afflicted. That it 
had a nervous origin is evinced by the fact that when 
she became interested in a conversation it would 
nearly, if not entirely, disappear. 

She proceeds : " I had intended finishing my letter 
yesterday, but our cab same sooner than I expected, 
and I had no time for writing in the morning. We 
had an excellent meeting. Gervase Smith surprised 



1854.] GERYASE SMITH. 169 

me. I had only heard him preach once. There was 
nothing in what I then heard to warrant the expecta- 
tion of such a speech as last night's. His rapid 
utterance, though it makes the general effect of his 
speech more brilliant, leaves you no time to enjoy the 
detail, or more properly the component parts. He 
passed through almost every system of religion in 
the world, giving a strikingly concise epitome of each 
showing its mutability because it was man-made, and 
that it was only preserved from speedier ruin by the 
admixture of truth which it contained. And then, 
taking the Gospel, he led it to every country of the 
world, and showed its adaptation to the peculiarities 
of every nation and people, beautifully sustaining his 
proposition by quotations from the sacred volume. 
Imagine yourself standing on a lofty Alpine summit, 
the panorama around is but dimly seen through the 
mist and darkness; suddenly the lightnings begin to 
play ; they leap from rock to rock, from mountain to 
mountain, and you catch a vivid but rapid glance of 
each fire-illumined point, till you have gone through 
the whole scene in succession. Thus did Gervase 
Smith lead us over almost every nation of the earth, 
flashing the light of the Gospel upon each. I wish you 
could have heard him." 

To her cousin she says on June 28 : "I should have 
written yesterday, but we had a party of seven come 
in to tea quite unexpectedly : Mrs. W. and three 
daughters, two ladies from North Shields, and one 
from Bilston in Staffordshire. They were a pleasant 
party, and we quite enjoyed their visit. Judge of 
my tremor, however, when one of the ladies from 



170 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

North Shields, a fine, intelligent-looking woman, in 
parting with me at the station, told me that she was 
so glad to have met me, that she had read some of 
my pieces, and had had a great wish to see me before 
she left Yorkshire, giving me also some very en- 
couraging counsel. Her husband is a ship-builder; 
and she told me how familiar she was with ignorance 
and wretchedness, which she could but slightly alle- 
viate; said how hardening a tendency the constant 
witnessing of such scenes had ; and added, ' You who 
write for religion and humanity, whose sympathies 
are not blunted by familiarity with suffering and 
degradation, have a work to do in keeping alive the 
flame of benevolence in us, who are too apt to pass 
by as remediless what we are so accustomed to wit- 
ness.' You may imagine how surprised I felt. Yet 
after the train had whirled them out of sight I felt 
thankful ; first, that I was unconscious of this until 
we were just parting ; and secondly, that I had an- 
other motive furnished me to work, one which I had 
never before so vividly realized. It brought before 
me the sweating sons of toil wearing away their lives 
in the dockyards and collieries, and the responsi- 
bilities attaching to their employers for their moral 
and intellectual culture. 

" Do not forget, dear Mary, that it is your privi 
lege to say, ' Being justified by faith, I have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' That 
peace will possess your heart just in proportion to 
your faith in Christ. As you are found looking to 
him you will realize this more fully. The experi- 
mental doctrines of Christianity are very simple and 



1854.] CARLYLE'S DOGMA. 171 

concise: faith in Christ producing love to. Christ ; love 
to Christ producing obedience to his commandments ; 
a perfect faith and a perfect love insuring a perfect- 
obedience. At this we should constantly be aiming. 
The Bible sets it forth as the standard to which we 
should be conformed." 

The 8th of July finds her in a railway carriage 
whirling her way to Idle to assist in preparations for 
the bazar. After an absence of nearly six weeks she 
returned to Boston Spa on Wednesday August 16. 
A portion of the Sunday following was spent in re- 
porting some of her experiences to her friend at 
Leeds : "This afternoon, as I knelt on the old familiar 
spot, it seemed to me that I had scarcely realized the 
devotion of the closet from the time I last knelt there 
on Sabbath afternoon. Amid the distracting, disturb- 
ing events of the last six weeks, that subtle, insinuat- 
ing dogma of Carlyle's has presented itself to my 
mind a thousand times. ' Work is worship.' Truly 
if I could believe that, I might esteem myself almost 
a saint. But no engagements however pressing, no 
work however honorable, that causes me to think less 
of God, or to restrain prayer, can be acceptable in 
his sight who has commanded us to sanctify every 
word and work by prayer. 

" I have not yet so learned the art of self-culture as 
that my mental and spiritual growth may be mutual 
and proportionate. I never had a season of unusual 
mental exertion but to the serious neglect of spiritual, 
domestic, or physical culture, and vice versa. I think 
this subject one of great importance, and in my 



172 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

aspirations after my ideal of a woman, nothing pre- 
sents to my mind a greater difficulty." 

The Scriptures set forth a very practicable method 
of vanquishing this difficulty : " Whether ye eat, or 
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
God." If, in every pursuit, we seek to serve and 
honor him, we shall avoid the evil she laments, and 
secure the good she covets. The student, the trades- 
man, and all others, should know that anything short 
of this is not Christianity. 

"I must combine expansiveness of view with con- 
centration of purpose," she proceeds, " in order to 
that beautiful harmony of character so desirable in 
woman. It is true that for a man to excel in any- 
thing, for all the purposes of life, he must devote him- 
self to some branch of science or business. I mean I 
would have him to follow one business and excel in 
it. But woman's mission is somewhat different, at 
least, that of most women — for there are exceptions 
to every rule — and my model is perfect in everything 
that comes within the sphere of a virtuous, intelligent, 
domestic woman ; so perfect that it is no easy matter 
to determine in what she most excels." 

After some prefatory remarks, she writes to Mr. 
B. on August 26 : " I marked a rapid development 
of character when I last saw you, but I do not wonder 
at that. There is nothing like sorrow and trial for 
unfolding a budding character. God often uses the 
rough blasts of adversity for developing and maturing 
hidden strength. I noticed the same results in Anna. ' 
Again and again I was reminded of Mrs. Hemans : 



1854.] LETTER TO A FKIEND. 173 

' There is strength 
Deep bedded in our hearts, of which we reck 
But little, till the shafts of heaven have pierced 
Its fragile dwelling. . . . 

Must not earth be rent 
Before her gems are found?' 

Earnestly do I pray that the sorrows which have 
fallen with such a crushing weight upon yourself and 
your beloved sister may drive you nearer to Him 
who alone can lighten the burden, and teach you to 
derive all the benefit which he has designed. . . . 
" Much as I admire poetry, and the adornments 
which a poetic imagination may fling around a sub- 
ject, I think the efficiency of a discourse is often 
marred by a too free use of figures and the flowers 
of poesy. O my dear friend, do avoid making these 
your staple commodity. It would not do fur an em- 
bassador charged with the important interests of a 
mighty nation, to clothe the purport of his mission in 
language which the people would simply admire. An 
embassador of the King of heaven has business to 
transact for his Sovereign of the highest importance, 
and it becomes him to set forth the nature of that 
business in language clear, perspicuous, and forceful. 
In making this your first study, do not understand me 
to mean that you are carefully to exclude all orna- 
ment." 

To Miss S. E. she writes on September 10 : "I 
think it one of the most pleasing features of our 
friendship, that some of the best and holiest emotions 
of our nature are those we most eagerly seek to share, 
in the full confidence that they will be appreciated 



174 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

and sympathized with. She is a friend indeed whose 
spiritual presence I can take with me, and make the 
companion of my heart of heart communion — a sense 
of whose soul-presence I would rather not shut out 
when I close the door against every earthly thing, and 
shut myself in with God. Such a friend are you. 
And thus it is, that on a Sabbath afternoon, when I 
am always alone, I seek communion with you. 

" My thoughts are somewhat dreamy and vague. I 
was at chapel this morning and heard Mr. W., but 
this same dreamy mist on the senses prevented me 
deriving much instruction through the ear. A little 
bird, which had flown through an open window, 
preached a more intelligible sermon to my heart 
through my eyes. The little terrified prisoner sought 
to escape through a circular window nearly at the top 
of the chapel. Vainly did it spread its little wings 
and flutter against the crystal walls of its cage. And 
as other little birds skimmed through the air on joy- 
ous wing, or nodded and sang on the leafy branches 
of the trees close by, the weary captive grew more 
and more impatient, and fluttered and pecked with 
greater intensity, until its strength was quite ex- 
hausted, while beneath were abundant opportunities 
of speedy and safe egress. 

" Do we not sometimes, like that little bird, find 
ourselves encompassed with snares and perplexities ? 
Our souls are in a prison house. Around us we see 
fellow Christians on buoyant wing, soaring away under 
a bright sky, and we make many a flattering effort to 
join them. We are resolved to effect our freedom, 
strike out our own path, and overlooking the only 



1854.] DEEP INTEREST IN AN ITALIAN. 175 

practicable and safe mode of deliverance, we exhaust 
our strength in efforts which, like those of the little 
bird, only raise a dust about us, and darken the light 
that beams upon our captivity. But we have to de- 
scend before we can soar. Our enfranchisement has 
to be effected upon our knees. The door of our prison 
opens too low to be recognized from the lofty height 
where we thought to wrench the bars off our grated 
window, and thus effect our escape. You will pardon 
the incompleteness of the simile, and forget for a 
moment that it does not go on all-fours, for the sake 
of the instructive lessons supplied by one or two anal- 
ogous points." 

Three days afterward the incomplete epistle re- 
ceives a large addition : "I have been thinking a great 
deal to-day of that case which the Spirit of God has 
fastened upon my mind. I think I never mentioned 
it to you. It is attended with no alternations of hope 
and fear, because I am shut out from all knowledge 
of the workings of his mind. But I am shut in to the 
promises of God's faithfulness, and I have lately been 
conscious of a remarkable test of my faith in these 
promises. A new view of the subject was suddenly 
started in my mind one day. I thought, I have been 
praying every day for more than six months for the 
conversion of Mr. ; if my eye be single in this mat- 
ter I shall be willing that my knowledge of the result 
shall be deferred until ' the day shall declare it ;' and 
I shall be willing to pray on, trusting only in the 
word of God. 1 1 am willing,' was the prompt reply 
of my heart. Let him be but the first-fruits, the 
wave offering, of that glorious harvest of his land, 



176 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

and I am content to go down to the grave with only 
such a knowledge of the fact as I gather from the 
passage, i Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my 
name it shall be given you.' " 

An interesting phase of character is revealed in this 
paragraph. The gentleman here referred to was an 
Italian, whom she met with during her visit to the 
Great Exhibition. He was an inmate of the same 
boarding house in Charter House Square. His large 
intelligence, refined manners, and great affability 
deeply interested her, but the decisiveness with which 
he expressed his disbelief in divine revelation deeply 
affected her. He avowed utter surprise at finding her 
a believer, declaring that the conduct of the priests in 
his country made it palpable that they believed relig- 
ion to be a fable. Little would he imagine that the 
stranger-lady would make his spiritual welfare a daily 
subject of presentation at the throne of grace. What 
reader will not hope that her disinterested solicitude 
may issue in blessed results 1 

Are we, however, to regard the Divine Being as 
promising that our prayers for the conversion of par- 
ticular individuals shall be specifically answered ? That 
would be to misapprehend the nature of moral gov- 
ernment. Undoubtedly his Spirit strives with per- 
sons in answer to prayer, and we may hope for those 
strivings to prove effectual ; but we have no promise 
on which to exercise faith for such a result. The pas- 
sage quoted, and all that class of passages, re- 
late to spiritual blessings sought by the suppliant. 
The Almighty, we must ever remember, does not 
act toward men as machines, but as moral agents. 



1854] IMPROVEMENT OF TALENTS. 177 

"I rejoice," she proceeds, "in that field of labor 
which has opened to you, and almost wished I was 
gifted with your talent for visiting. Let me be thank- 
ful, however, and cultivate the talents I have. I have 
three. The work of my hands I offer willingly ; the 
work of my head, poor as it may be, is at the dispos- 
al of God and his Church, and the cause of human- 
ity ; and though my prayers are feeble, I feel conscious 
of an awakening to the value and power of prayer 
which I have hitherto failed to realize. O my friend, 
the thought has sometimes almost overwhelmed me, 
if the prayers and pleadings of a lifetime should 
result in an event whose final issue might prove the 
evangelization of that land ' where Satan's seat is,' 
would it not be a glorious consummation of even a 
long life of unceasing self-denial and prayer 1 Alas ! 
I must have more personal holiness before I dare hope 
for such an answer. But the thought that such results 
might ensue were I possessed of the necessary qualifi- 
cations, is one of such magnitude and importance as 
sometimes bows my spirit to the dust. Only to you 
could I have written thus. 

" 18th. I am rather amused when I glance over 
my eulogy of Mrs. Stowe. You must not suppose 
that I mean by my admiration of earnestness of feel- 
ing, a woman whose life is a series of volcanic erup- 
tions. In general I prefer a quiet forceful ness in the 
expression of feeling. I felt quite pleased that we dif- 
fered in our opinions about the book." 

Her brother's continued debility, consequent on the 
attack previously mentioned, rendered his removal to 
a southern climate imperative. Miss Hessel aided their 



178 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

preparations, and this exertion following close upon 
the toils of the bazar, made too large a demand upon 
her physical resources. On the evening of Sunday, 
September 24, she writes to Mr. B : "lama prisoner 
to-night. The influenza of which I spoke in my last 
has not yet left me, and I am under medical attend- 
ance. I have some reason to apprehend a winter of 
trial in this respect. But I trust I am willing to suf- 
fer. Mr. S. does not discover any organic disease ; 
but I am weak, and have suffered greatly from the air- 
vessels of the lungs having become clogged, and thus 
causing me pain in breathing. 

" I have spent half an hour in intercessory prayer 
to-night, in which I have had near access to God. As 
my circle of sympathies has widened beneath the 
genial influences of the Sun of righteousness, I have 
been enabled to plead with fervor for those whose 
weal is near my heart. I have prayed that you may 
become a faithful minister of the New Testament, and 
dispense the word of life with power and effect. I 
cannot tell you how near I have sometimes come to 
the mercy-seat of late. I sometimes feel impressed 
with the conviction that I have not long to bow before 
it. The other morning I felt my whole soul pervaded 
with this thought ; but along with it there came such a 
sweet assurance that my Father's house was open to 
receive me, that my crown and mansion were waiting 
only for my fitness to wear and inhabit them, that I 
was led to plead for that holiness which is the only 
preparation for the enjoyment of heaven, as. well as 
the only title to it. To-night I have had similar yearn- 
ings and assurances. 



1854.] VARIED EXPERIENCE. 179 

" My state of mind is very fluctuating. My indis- 
position has quickened some susceptibilities I would 
fain have had to slumber. I feel a morbid sensitive- 
ness, which I know from past experience is the result 
of weakness ; and I have moments of deep depres- 
sion, seasons when my eye of faith scarcely sees the 
Saviour by reason of the clouds and darkness which 
intervene. But my hand of faith when stretched out 
has never failed to grasp him ; and thus I have an abid- 
ing sense of safety even when joy is withheld. 

" How often we forget that we are saved by faith, 
not by joy or peace, or any other fruit of the Spirit. 
I feel a willingness to leave myself entirely in God's 
hands with reference to life or death. Sometimes I 
feel like a wearied child, that would fain go home to 
her father's house. At other times, when the weak- 
ness is partially removed, I feel as if I had a work to 
do for God before I go hence. And then the feeble- 
ness and worthlessness of all my working oppresses 
me, and I feel as if God could remove me without loss 
to his Church. Then again I sometimes think God 
may take me hence, and when I have put off this mor- 
tality, with its trammels, infirmities, and sinfulness, he 
may use me still, with my enlarged and unencum- 
bered faculties, in promoting his glory, perhaps in ac- 
complishing those very results which I have been 
most anxious to accomplish here. How much the 
disembodied spirits of the glorified share in the work 
of promoting Christ's kingdom on earth, we cannot 
tell. All my musings on this subject end in the prayer : 
' Thy will be done in me and by me.' I feel, even 
when trying to decide what I should really prefer, 
12 



180 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

it is utter ignorance clinging to infinite wisdom, per- 
fect helplessness leaning upon Almighty power. 

" There are other phases of my inner life I should 
like to mention, but cannot now. I make no apology 
for troubling you with anything so personal. I know 
your sympathies, and that you will understand my 
feelings. 

" Do you not often speculate on the employments 
of heaven ? Shall we not carry with us, and find 
means of exercising, our most refined intellectual 
tastes there? Surely we shall. We read of no 
change passing upon the spirit — upon its tastes and 
faculties, to prepare it for a different order of exist- 
ence. Take a soul wholly purified from sin — made 
holy after the scriptural standard — and when that 
spirit has dropped its earthly tabernacle it needs no 
added faculties, no altered tastes, to fit it for the en- 
joyment of heaven. I often think there are certain 
subjects of research which will be especially interest- 
ing to me, from the fact that I have here struggled to 
comprehend them* Then the enlarged faculty will be 
free to pursue its investigations, with no impassable 
barriers to its progress." 

Her patriotism constrained her to rejoice in the in- 
telligence of the fall of Sebastopol — -false, as it after- 
ward proved — -circulated early in October, but her 
philanthropy constrained her to mingle sorrow with 
her joy. " I was in York on Monday," she writes to 
her sister-in-law, " when the news arrived about Se- 
bastopol. The Telegraph Office was besieged by a 
gaping crowd. Little strips of paper with the dis- 



1854.] FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. 181 

patches on were being circulated with incredible 
swiftness. Commercial men brightened up, and 
everybody met you with the news, which everybody 
seemed to take in good faith. The bells sent forth 
their merry peals, and the booming cannons shook the 
old city to her very walls. I walked about with a 
choking sensation in my throat, and a suffocating feel- 
ing in my heart. It seemed as though the dying 
agonies -of the soldiers, and the bitter wail of thou- 
sands of w T ives, daughters, sisters, and mothers were 
concentrated in one stifled, unutterable groan close to 
my very ears. I thought of the fervent prayers in 
which my whole soul had joined : ' Give success to 
our armies, send us a decisive and glorious victory ;' 
and then I thought of David, who said : ' By terrible 
things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of 
our salvation.' As a nation we have prayed, and God 
has answered us by ' terrible things.' 

" I don't know how I should get on if I lived in 
Portsmouth ; for here, where I hear little news of the 
war, the demand upon the emotional part of my na- 
ture is quite exhausting. ' There must be a fearful 
breaking down of bravery among the troops when the 
fever-heroism of battle is over, and the dead and 
dying are missed from the ranks. There is nothing 
strange to me in the hero of Waterloo saying, with 
tears in his eyes : ' There is nothing more terrible 
than a victory except a defeat.' 

u As we rode home from York on Monday evening, 
it seemed impossible to believe that such a glorious 
and harmonious brotherhood of stars as looked down 
upon us from their eternal dwellings of love were 



182 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

ever intended to smile upon any world where peace 
did not reign. The little towns and villages had 
caught the enthusiasm of the old city, and all their 
bells were ringing out their modicum of joy at the 
news. I sat silent, and wondered, when the heirs of 
God should have the mysterious roll which contains 
the secret of his moral government of the world un- 
folded to them by the angels, with what eagerness 
they would question these eye-witnesses as to all the 
anomalies which must oft have puzzled them. Leav- 
ing the subject until ' the day shall declare it,' I felt 
content to reason with Longfellow : 

4 Were half the power that fills the world with terror, 
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, 
, Given to redeem the human mind from error, 
There were no need of arsenals or forts. 

' The warrior's name would be a name abhorred ; 

And every nation that should lift again 
Its hand against its brother, on its forehead 

Should wear for evermore the curse of Cain.' 

And then a bright picture presented itself, and with a 
faith borne aloft on the strong pinions of the poet I 
repeated : 

' Down the dark future through long generations, 
The echoing sounds grow fainter, and then cease ; 

And like a bell with solemn sweet vibrations, 
I hear once more the voice of Christ say, " Peace," 

' Peace ! And no longer from its brazen portals, 
The blast of War's great organ shakes the skies ; 

But beautiful as songs of the Immortals, 
The holy melodies of love arise.' 

" Perhaps I ought to apologize for troubling you 
with these sentiments, but if opinions are worth any- 



1854.J WAR ANTICHRISTIAN. 183 

thing they are worth circulating; and when every 
human mind shall be imbued with the conviction that 
peace is the heritage of the world — the legacy of our 
ascending Saviour, who had died to purchase it — and 
that war is opposed to the spirit and letter of the 
New Testament, then the world's jubilee will have 
arrived, and people will talk of war as we talk of the 
mythology of the Greeks. 

"'Aye, say some, but your sentiments are in ad- 
vance of the age. They can be realized only in the 
far-future.' Of course not. But then they are pioneers 
and heralds of that future. They are tending toward 
its realization. It can never be reached without them. 
Let the principle of peace impregnate the mind of the 
masses-; let England, for instance, and the Western 
world, hold them as national truths, and what* an in- 
fluence this would exert on the rest of the world. Let 
the nations of Europe also partake of the same spirit, 
and you are on the eve of a universal peace. Every 
individual who cherishes and tries to disseminate 
these principles is helping to bring about this era. 
All honor to such men as Elihu Burritt ! An unbe- 
lieving world may scoff at their fanaticism ; but they 
are pioneers in the world's great moral reforms. 
They are strong in faith, believing the promises of 
God, and aiding, as every believer in revelation is 
bound to do, in their fulfillment," 

The importance of depositing sound doctrinal truth 
in the minds of children is forcibly illustrated by a 
brief statement relative to her own history in a letter 
to Miss S, R ? dated October 13 ; " Many thauks for 



184 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

your letter. I was dressing when it arrived, and the 
train of thought I was pursuing was singularly anal- 
ogous to the sentiments contained in your first sheet. 
I was looking back on ray past mental history, and 
tracing the workings of my mind in its vague but earn- 
est search after truth. I remember the time when 
all the elements which form the ground- work of that 
cumbrous system of pantheistic philosophy which has 
gained such hold on the mind of the present age, were 
struggling to form themselves into a settled creed in 
my own mind. Fortunately, I knew not then the ex- 
istence of such a philosophy. Books of that nature 
were inaccessible, and in my circle of acquaintance the 
system was unknown, or at least unspoken of. Had 
it been placed before me, it would have acted like a 
magnet on the chaotic mass my mind had accumula- 
ted,, and I should at once have embraced it. Thank 
God, a better light had dawned ere the fascination of 
its shadowy mystic twilight was suffered to pass be- 
fore me. I believe neology originated in pride of 
intellect. 

" Thank you for the amusing reminiscence of the 
budding of my £ young ideas.' I have set up a few 
intellectual way -marks since then for which I am 
thankful, but I am ten thousand times more grateful 
for the moral way-marks I have had to rear. 

" This intelligence of carnage and bloodshed has 
made fearful demands upon the emotional part of my 
nature, and I began to feel that I must dismiss the 
subject from my mind. I believe I should have tuned 
the lately unstrung chords of my lyre to this subject, 
had not Longfellow expressed my thoughts and feel- 



1854.] MATRIMONY. 185 

ings so much better. Our friend Parker Willis says 
it is one of the highest intellectual pleasures to find 
our own thoughts and emotions well described by an- 
other. I quite agree with him." 

By the middle of October she appears to be greatly 
improved in health, as she certainly was in spirits. 
" I have just been reading an article in a periodi- 
cal which has amused me greatly," she says to 
Mr. B. 

" It is on ' Female Authors.' Its purport is that an 
unmarried woman once fairly convicted of literature 
must never expect to sign her marriage contract, but 
may make up her mind to solitariness in the world 
she presumes to create for herself Miss Landon is 
the only scribe recognized ; who w r as ever invited to 
change the name she had made famous.' All mar- 
ried literary women, it is asserted, ' wore orange- 
blossom before they assumed the bay-leaf.' It is 
enough to frighten one, if matrimony were the great 
end of our existence. But as I believe that a life of 
usefulness in the fullest and best sense of that w T ord, 
universal usefulness, if you will admit the term, is 
the highest good of woman, I think that matrimony 
even should be subservient to this end. And where 
it would clearly impede the development of certain 
peculiar talents for a sphere of usefulness more ex- 
tended than even that high and holy one of domestic 
life, it may properly be dispensed w T ith. All honor, 
say I, to the noble-minded women who have toiled 
for the good of the million and denied themselves the 
sweets of those dear domestic charities I I shall have 



186 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

another laugh at the absurdity of treating you to my 
thoughts on this subject. 

" I was pleased with your letter and can fully sym- 
pathize with your thirst for knowledge. Let us be 
careful to grow in holiness as well as knowledge. 
We are in danger of forgetting to sanctify our men- 
tal acquisitions, of neglecting our spiritual, while 
nourishing our intellectual life. May God help us to 
watch!" 

In a strain that will gratify every Christian reader, 
she writes to Miss S. E. on November 5: "What 
a precious religion is ours ! How it abounds with 
consolation to the believer under all circumstances ! 
Here is an anodyne just suited to my case to-day : 
* For we have not a high priest which cannot be 
touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was 
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.' 
I awoke this morning with a slight indisposition, and 
a degree of mental prostration which has made me' 
an easy prey to temptation. I have felt my inability 
to command my thoughts through the day. A tor- 
rent of such as are vain and worldly has been rushing 
through the mind. I have prayed to be delivered 
from them, and have had sweet glimpses of higher 
and better things, alluring but brief manifestations of 
spiritual beauty and glory which my spirit pants to 
grasp, and which seem to beckon me and say, ' Come 
up hither!' Then there have been fierce Conflicts, 
lightning flashes which have revealed to me the deep, 
deep depravity of my moral nature, and almost over- 
whelmed me. Through such sudden revulsions of 
feeling have I been passing all the day, and now, with 



1854 J SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES. 187 

a subdued heart, I turn to Christ my righteousness, 
and behold in him a high priest who sympathizes 
with his suffering follower. I think I have felt fellow- 
ship with him in suffering to-day. I never experi- 
enced so deeply as of late that the Christian's life is 
a conflict. 

" I feel it very difficult to speak of my spiritual 
state satisfactorily. I don't think I could convey, 
even to you, a correct idea of my past week's experi- 
ences. I have felt sensibly nearer to Christ. I have 
had clearer views of him and of my own heart. The 
result of that nearness to him has been greater ten- 
derness of spirit and conscience. Those indications 
of the carnal mind I have heretofore but slightly- 
noticed have been quickly observed by me and in- 
stantly repented of. And O ! what a fullness of love 
has appeared in the heart of my Redeemer ! Every 
moment I have seemed to try it, a sinful thought, a 
hasty or foolish word has occurred ; but there has 
been with the quick consciousness of sin an instant 
looking to Christ and the sweet feeling of renewed 
forgiveness. You have seen a little child who is 
learning what it may, and what it must not touch. 
It has arrived at an age when a stricter obedience is 
required. It is yet partially ignorant of the higher 
requirement, and through this ignorance and thought- 
less waywardness is constantly transgressing. But 
the moment it is made conscious of the fact the in- 
stinct of filial love prompts it to seek its mother's 
face, and in its tender expression it reads forgiveness. 
Just so have I felt while endeavoring to meet the re- 
quirements of that law which has lately appeared in a 



188 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

more vivid light. Hence I have had clearer mani- 
festations of the loving, patient, long-suffering, and 
sympathizing heart of my great Redeemer." 

Large as was the circle of her friends, a welcome 
addition was made this autumn. Mrs. W.'s excellen- 
ces soon elevated her to the place next only to Miss 
Hessel's long-tried friend in Leeds. In reply to an 
application for occasional contributions to one or two 
favorite periodicals she writes to her on November 
22 : Ci There are times when I almost sicken at the 
sight of a pen. Were it not that the resolution to do 
something for God in this way was born of the ago- 
nizing prayer and the tearful inquiry, ' Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do V I would gladly abandon 
it. My present circumstances are somewhat trying. 
I seem neither to be writing nor working. But I 
endeavor to be contented. There are processes of 
thought and phases of experience going on which I 
doubt not will be of after service to me. I long to 
see you, to ask your opinion of some of these per- 
plexing experiences. I find it difficult to communi- 
cate them, and sometimes doubt the propriety of 
doing it." 

A letter to Miss S. R., December 7, reveals the 
practical tendency of her aims, but gives mournful 
evidence of the over-taxation of her powers : " I am 
at home to-night, a prisoner 'from a cold and sore 
throat, and so have taken up my pen to have half an 
hour's communion with you. I have been taking 
out tracts this afternoon, visited the school, and at- 
tended the teachers' prayer-meeting. It has been in 



1854.] MENTAL DEPKESSION. 189 

some respects a very pleasant and profitable Sabbath. 
I think I am getting hold of a more excellent way of 
living. I spent last Thursday with Mrs. W., and I 
am sure the visit did me good. She has got hold of 
the right method of making life a noble and useful 
thing, and in studying her character I find many 
things I deemed impossible to me coming within the 
range of possibility. May I have grace to carry out 
the purposes I have formed to weave my web of life 
into a better and more useful texture ? 

" I have suffered great mental depression lately, and 
I begin to see now the folly of my conduct. 1 have 
been anxious to complete a little narrative. I have 
had only the evenings for writing. The labors of 
the former part of the day have been arduous, and 
mostly sedantary. I have gone out very little, and 
often ' with fingers weary and worn,' sometimes ; with 
eyelids heavy and red,' I have sat down to elucidate 
a passage of Scripture, or commit to paper my 
thoughts on some doctrinal point. After many a 
fruitless attempt, worn out in body and mind, I have 
retired to rest, confessing, sometimes with tears, that 
I was altogether an unprofitable servant, and did 
nothing for God, but only seemed attempting some- 
thing. Harassed by such thoughts, I have risen the 
next morning from a fitful slumber to drag through 
the same weary round of duties, and tell the same 
mournful tale in the ear of evening. I see now that 
I have been charging too much upon myself, more 
than I can perform, and hence my present prostration. 
I long for some change. I look forward to my visit as 
a weary desert- traveler looks toward the distant oasis." 



190 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

This letter remained in her portfolio till the 12th. 
She then adds : " I haye just finished ; Talfourd's Final 
Memorials of Charles Lamb.' They make me very 
sad. What a lovely character he would have been 
had he possessed true religion ! I never read any- 
thing, nor do I ever expect to read anything, so sweetly 
touching, so nobly sublime, as his devotion to Mary. 
One circumstance narrated nearly upset me for the 
day. It was the picture of Lamb and his sister met 
by a friend, hand in hand, wending their sorrowful 
way to the Asylum, both weeping bitterly, like chil- 
dren. Affectingly does he say to Coleridge : ' Mary 
has gone from home again. These terrible visitations 
cut large slices out of the time we shall have to live 
together.' At last he refused to part with her when 
she was attacked, and he says so lovingly : ; When 
she is not violent, her rambling chat is better to me 
than all the sense and sanity of this world.' She her- 
self was accustomed to prepare for the attacks ; and 
when they came, Charles asked leave of absence at 
the East India House for a few days pleasure ! that 
he might take her to the Asylum. What a mock- 
ery ! She used to pack the straight waistcoat herself 
when they took their little country excursions. The 
book contains some very clever sketches of Cole- 
ridge, Haydon, Hazlitt, Dyer, Goodwin, and others, 
from the pen of the Sergeant, It is very interest- 
ing, but a sad and sorrowful picture of two lives, 
for Mary is interwoven with all he says and does, 
which needed only religion to make them the most 
sublime specimens of living martyrdom the world 
ever saw 5 " 



1854.] AX UNCONVERTED FRIEND. 191 

" Those people are a puzzle to me," she writes to 
Mr. F. on December 21, " who talk of time hanging 
heavily upon their hands. It glides over my head 
like a swift fleecy cloud, and I am constantly marvel- 
ing at its rapidity. I never seem to get a day's work 
into the day. I believe my busy head maps out too 
much work. You will wonder to what such an intro- 
duction can be the prelude. It is simply to explain 
how it is that your valued letter has not been answered 
sooner. It is all true, nevertheless, and not a mere 
coloring to a lame apology. 

" I am glad to hear that the ladies of my uncle's 
household are so laudably employed. My mother, 
God bless her, is ready for every good work. I ex- 
pect her reward to be apportioned by the great Master 
in that lofty eulogy of Mary, ' She hath done what 
she could.' Might I have such an utterance, I should 
have nothing higher to wish for." 

The deep interest she took in the spiritual welfare 
of her cousin, created a similar interest in behalf of this 
gentleman, her cousin's most intimate friend. Well 
worthy of being pondered, and not read merely, are 
the sentiments she proceeds to record : " I was pleased 
to hear that you bore the tedium of confinement to 
the house with such exemplary fortitude during your 
illness. To gentlemen, such a disciplinary lesson in 
patience must be rather trying. I am glad your phi- 
losophy sustained you. How much should I have 
rejoiced had you stated that a higher consolation was 
experienced. Excuse me, but I cannot feel happy to 
dispatch another letter to you without mentioning this 
subject. I don't know that an apology is requisite, or 



192 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1854. 

that you will deem it so. Perhaps my own conscience 
demands satisfaction of another kind ; apology is not 
the word to use in that case. I have done vic T snce to 
my sense of duty in excluding religious topics from 
my letters to you. I have even gone further, and 
omitted them in my letters to Mary because you 
would see them, though Mary and I have talked 
freely on these matters. 

" I fear lest you should suspect me of dictation. 
But why should you ? If I possessed some earthly 
good which was accessible to you, and I recommended 
it as a thing that I experimentally knew to be good, 
you would not deem me impertinent or dictatorial. 
If religion be a good at all it is the highest good, and 
I cannot give you a stronger proof of my regard for 
you than by evincing my anxiety that you and my 
beloved cousin should be its possessors. You have 
many sources of happiness. They are innocent, law- 
ful, and commendable, but they do not satisfy. The 
joys of social and domestic life, of intercourse with na- 
ture, of association with great and noble minds, are all 
pure and rich ; but even in their highest realization they 
proclaim we were created for something nobler still. 

" I can speak confidently on this subject, for I have 
drank of the purest streams of earthly enjoyment, 
and my spirit still yearned for higher good. I have 
struggled through many tangled mazes of error, subtle 
and dangerous because they ministered to my spiritual 
pride, and I have asked many times with Pilate, 'What 
is truth 1 ' I have sought it amid the thousand voices 
that have clamored to be heard with Babel-like con- 
fusion, but I found it only when I threw aside the flimsy 



1854.] AN UNCONVERTED FRIEND. 193 

systems of men, and the false theories my own brain had 
created, and came to the Bible with the trusting faith 
and simple inquiring spirit with which I first spelled out 
its wondrous tale of love at my mother's knee. 

"Do you ask what religion has done for me? I 
answer, much more than I can ever tell. It has satis- 
fied my soul's yearnings. It has given me peace, and 
an assurance of safety. It has secured to me all that 
is really good for me in this life, and it points to the 
highest bliss which even an Almighty donor can con- 
fer as my inheritance in the life to come. These are 
only some of the benefits it has conferred. Ought I 
not to recommend it? Can you feel annoyed at my 
doing so ? I am sure you cannot. 

" Could I persuade you to give this subject but one 
hour's patient, thoughtful, and prayerful consideration; 
to weigh the claims of religion with as much earnest- 
ness and care as you would an important mercantile 
transaction, and then act upon your convictions, I am 
sure you would become a Christian. Believe me, it 
would not adulterate the springs of your present 
enjoyment. It would ennoble all your intellectual 
pursuits, and make your life happier, nobler, and 
more useful. 

" I should be glad to know your views on this 
matter. I have introduced it thus because I believe 
you regard it as a subject for calm, rational investi- 
gation. You must excuse me if I have said anything 
offensive. I did not intend it. I know Mary would 
rejoice in the knowledge that you had decided to live 
for God, and she is prepared to join you in the 
decision." 



194 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A social Picture — Coleridge's Aids to Keflection — Martin's Last 
Judgment and other Paintings. — Letter to a Friend on reaching 
his Majority — National Sins — Coleridge's Ancient Mariner — 
Reason, Faith, and Unbelief — Bigg's Night and the Soul — 
On the Condition of Disembodied Spirits — Death of her Uncle 
Campbell — Rev. B. Gregory — Joy amid Sorrow — Dr. Chan- 
ning— Gay Parties — Yinet's Gospel Studies. 

The year 1855 opened auspiciously on Miss Hessel. 
It brought facilities for a long purposed visit to her 
friend at Leeds. On January 22 she endeavors to en- 
able Mrs. W. to realize her social felicity. " Imagine 
our little coterie : good, sober, sterling Mr. R. and his 
excellent wife, with a beautiful soul, sanctified and en- 
nobled by a deep and vigorous piety, who throws all 
her energies into the service of her Redeemer, and 
might say with Elijah, 4 1 have been very jealous for 
the Lord God of Hosts,' for she is the champion of 
the religion of the Bible against all innovations. Then 
comes my gentle, high-souled, deep-thinking friend 
Sarah, whose inner life, with its calm depths of 
thought, is penetrated by few even of her friends, but 
in the sanctuary of whose heart I feel I have a place, 
won only by years of reciprocated sentiment and feel- 
ing. How much I owe to her I can know only in 
eternity ; but I thank God for such a friend. Then 
there is Mr. H. with his marvelous faculty of turning 
everything into fun, and who entertains us with wit, 



1855.] A SOCIAL PICTURE. 195 

satire, and puns in endless variety ; and little T., who 
was made to be teased by H. and sis., and who seems 
to think that rather unfortunate. Add to this the oc- 
casional society of a Miss G. She is an Irish lady, 
has been educated by her papa as if designed to grad- 
uate at Cambridge, and is quite scientific. 

" Our employments are pleasantly diversified. We 
are taking Coleridge's 'Aids to Eeflection' on the 
Homeopathic principle, that is, in infinitesimal doses, 
and endeavoring to digest it. It is a wonderful book. 
Many of the aphorisms were quite familiar to me, but 
I did not know they were Coleridge's. I should like 
to send Mr. W. some extracts, but have not time to 
copy them twice, and writing is a mild form of living 
martyrdom this cold weather. You shall see them 
when I return. We have little snatches of Miss 
Bremer's 4 Homes of the New World,' a very graphic 
description of a tour in America, from the pen of a 
sensible, observant, unprejudiced woman. I like the 
work much better than her novels. We have a me- 
moir of a young Mackintosh to read. The book is 
called the ' Earnest Student,' and Mr. H. says it re- 
minds him of my brother John. Then Mrs. R. and I 
read spicy bits of ' Vinet ' together, and she drinks it 
in with an earnest sympathy which quite delights me. 
And lastly we have slices of literary gossip from the 
4 Critic' Gilfillan's ' Portrait Gallery ' is reviewed in 
the last number. He pleases me greatly by announc- 
ing a change of sentiment respecting Thomas Carlyle 
and his school. He now denounces them as the worst 
enemies of Christ and his religion. I wish he would 
take up his pen against the whole coterie in a work of 
13 



196 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

some size and pretensions. He classes our friend 
William Macall in the same category. Macall repu- 
diates the charge in highly indignant terms, in a letter 
to the editor of the ' Critic' Nevertheless I think 
Gilfillan right. 

" 1 must tell you of a treat we had last Friday at 
the Music Hall. We went to see Martin's celebrated 
pictures, 4 The Last Judgment,' ' The Plains of Heaven,' 
and ' The Great Day of His Wrath.' I wish I could 
tell you all about these wonderful creations. The 
first is perhaps the most elaborate conception. There 
is the battle of Armageddon. The scene is laid in the 
valley of Jehoshaphat. The armies of Gog and Magog 
are assembled, and immense lines of railway carriages, 
with the names of European cities upon them, are 
transporting vast numbers of troops to the scene of 
conflict. The perspective is wonderful in all the pic- 
tures, and the idea of vastness in numbers and space 
astonishes you. Suddenly the blast of the archangel 
announces the judgment. The destroying angel — the 
boldest, grandest conception in the picture — floating 
on a black sea, appears with the lightning in his left 
hand. From between the closed fingers it darts forth 
in forked fiery lines on that startled host, who fall in 
wild confusion on the plain. The judgment throne is 
set; the books are opened; the angels attend; the 
dead are judged. The figures in the foreground are 
all representatives of a Church, a system, or a class. 
The woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, and a fe- 
male figure fallen by her side, with a golden-clasped 
Bible fastened to her girdle by a string of pearls, to 
represent a vain attempt to unite religion and the 



1855.] ' MARTIN'S LAST JUDGMENT. 197 

world, are magnificently painted. Close by are num- 
bers of false teachers, etc. On the opposite side are 
the good. Many of the faces in the foreground are 
authentic likenesses. We recognized John Bunyan, 
Luther, Wesley, and many others. The shadowy 
outline of the New Jerusalem forms the background 
of the picture; and innumerable companies, led by 
the shining ones, are trooping up the avenues that 
lead to it. One startling object in the foreground is a 
broken bridge between heaven and hell. On the right 
side are two or three so perilously near the precipice 
that it makes one think of being saved by the skin of 
the teeth, and we involuntarily shuddered. The sun 
darkened, and the moon turned into blood, are magnif- 
icently executed, at least the latter is. The coloring 
is gorgeous. 

" ; The Plains of Heaven ' has wonderful beauty, but 
it is to me most unsatisfactory. The foreground is a 
scene of sylvan beauty, shady avenues, luxuriant foli- 
age, still waters, and flowers too gorgeously tinted. 
Cleverly enough the young angels are sporting amid 
these spiritualized earthly enjoyments, while the 
more intellectual are wandering in avenues which seem 
to lose their materialism, and melt into spiritual 
glory. In the background is a shadowy outline of 
that wondrous land which ' eye hath not seen.' We 
tried in vain to decipher those dim outlines. Art 
had done its utmost, and so over the whole was 
thrown an exquisite glow of softened glory. I won- 
der how the artist felt while painting that picture. I 
could fancy him struggling to bring out on the can- 
vas those visions of beauty and grandeur which were 



198 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

only half revealed in his own soul, and throwing down 
the brush, saying, as I said while gazing on his work : 
' I think I feel as if I had courage to pass through that 
shadow of a coming life which men call death, that I 
might explore what lies beyond.' O how unsatisfy- 
ing did that picture seem with all its glowing, won- 
drous beauty ! 

" ' The Great Day of His Wrath ' was terrific. The 
blackness of darkness ; the lightning-cleft rocks ; the 
multitudes hurled down the abyss; fair, womanly 
forms, associated with one's most vivid ideal of guilt 
and depravity ! One face was terrific. It seemed lit 
up by internal fire, and the mouth and nostrils emit- 
ted a fiery sulphurous breath. 

" Farewell to thee, Martin ! my spirit has held 
strange communion with thine while gazing on those 
wondrous conceptions of thy genius. So I said as I 
left the Music Hall. 

" Critically considered, these pictures have some de- 
fects. But they are minor ones. Some of the figures 
are perhaps necessarily grotesque, and the grand and 
fanciful are sometimes in too close proximity." 

Her friend Mr. B. was thus greeted on January 31 : 
u Good morning ! A bright and happy anniversary 
morning of your birthday ! Believe me, a thousand 
good wishes attend you. This most important birth- 
day, to which so many longingly look, will perhaps 
excite in you very different feelings from those gene- 
rally experienced. I fancy I see you the subject of 
many-hued thoughts. The changing expression of 
your countenance indicates that there are broad and 



1855.] BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATION. 199 

long lines of ebony inlaid with the gold. I wish my 
letter, like some good fairy, might come and whisper 
in your ear of hope and joy. Truly the sunshine is 
coming. There is a promise of better days. It is 
good for us patiently to wait sometimes. Ah ! we 
learn lessons during this ' patient waiting ' we could 
learn in no other way. 

" God has greatly honored you by the careful dis- 
cipline to which he has subjected you. He is not 
less careful in polishing his jewels, than man in the 
cutting alid setting of precious stones. Because these 
gems are to deck the mediatorial crown of the Re- 
deemer, he seeks to bring out their hidden beauties. 
Let us only be as passive in his hands as the diamond 
in those of the lapidary, and he will finish the work 
with a master's skill. 

" I am thinking what an Ebenezer you will have to 
raise to-morrow. How it will be covered from sum- 
mit to base, and all round, with inscriptions of grati- 
tude for sustaining power and delivering mercy ! 
How you may crown the whole by singing 

c Thy hand hath safely brought me, 

A way no more expected, 
Than when thy sheep, passed through the deep, 

By crystal walls protected 1' 

What new phases of our heavenly Father's character, 
and our Redeemer's love, do we sometimes discover 
in a great trial ! It seems as if many of the repre- 
sentations he has made of himself in his word are 
like a folded flower— concealing much of its fragrance 
and beauty. The scorching heat we dreaded in the 
geason of our suffering is intended to unfold the flower, 



200 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

We have other pages of love in the great heart of 
our Redeemer opened to us, of which we saw little 
and deciphered nothing in the hours of prosperity and 
joy. Have you not proved it so? I have. This 
twenty-first birthday is a landmark of no common 
kind. May the future toward which it points be one 
of rich and copious blessing — the blessing of a life 
crowded with high and noble action ! " 

In the early part of February the pen is made the 
medium of another outflow of her heart to Mrs. W. : 
" The cold is intense ; the frost more severe than 
ever ; but we may bid defiance to it ensconced in this 
pleasant drawing room. I look round on the elegant 
refinement, the cheerful fire, the bright faces, the forms 
of beauty which almost breathe from the pictured 
walls, and then on the brilliant panorama without. 
The sun has just burst forth with amazing power. 
Looking at the sky, you might fancy it one of those 
gorgeous days in early autumn, when the clouds build 
up such graceful domes and turrets of fleecy light on 
the azure vault of heaven. How I love to watch these 
ever changing visions of beauty ! I call it cloud- 
architecture, but Sarah laughs at me, and perhaps you 
will do the same. The smoke has rolled off en masse 
from the town, and revealed spire and tower, and those 
ugly long chimneys — which, nevertheless, are suggest- 
ive of the wealth and enterprise of a great people — ■ 
and far away in the distance rises the blue outline of 
Middleton Hills. Patches of snow glitter and sparkle 
in the dazzling sunlight, and we have just come from 
the window with feelings akin to those of Bishop 
Heber when he sang; 



1855.] HEAVEN THE SAINTS' HOME. 201 

* God of good beyond compare ! 

If thus thy meaner works are fair, 

If thus thy beauties gild the span 

Of ruined earth and sinful man ; 

How glorious must those mansions be 

Where thy redeemed shall dwell with thee ! 

There are depths of thought associated with the last 
two lines, and I have been asking myself whether I 
have preserved that lively perception of the unseen 
world amid so much that ministers to my enjoyment, 
which has been my wont in the retirement of ordinary 
life. I fear I have not. Often have I whispered to 

myself: 

4 Whatever passes as a cloud between 
The mental eye of faith and things unseen, 
Making that brighter world to disappear, 
Or seem less lovely and its hopes less dear, 
This is our world — our idol, though it wear 
Affection's impress or devotion's air.* 

A scene like that I have just been contemplating stirs 
the depths of my soul. I have often thanked God 
that the voices of nature speak to my heart in more 
commanding tones than the most powerful utterances 
of human eloquence. In gazing on this landscape I 
half unconsciously exclaimed, ' This is fair and good, 
but there is a fairer and better world.' That fact 
would avail me nothing, however, but for another. 
That better world is my rightful inheritance, my true 
fatherland. I wonder what it is like ! I ought to be 
cultivating such tastes, and following such pursuits as 
will qualify me for enjoying it with zest. If the 
purity of my moral nature is to form the chief ele- 
ment of my happiness in heaven, if that is to fit me 
for the employments and fellowship of the redeemed, 



202 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855 

with what earnestness and care should I now be 
cultivating it ! Heaven is the true home of the re- 
generated spirit, and when musing on its society and 
engagements I have experienced a feeling analogous 
to home-sickness ; that yearning of the heart we some- 
times feel, when, at a distance, we picture to our- 
selves the home circle, the gathering round the hearth 
where we feel we have a right to be. I don't know 
whether it would be salutary always to experience 
such feelings. They visit me only occasionally, when 
the unseen becomes for a moment visible by one of 
those lightning flashes which reveal so much to the 
mental eye. But they elevate and give a higher im- 
pulse to the soul. 

" We visited the Academy of Arts on Saturday 
and saw nearly seven hundred pictures. Among them 
was one gem, a small picture of a young female 
just dead. Truly death in all its still sublimity was 
there. A spasmodic twitch of the parted lips seemed 
just setting into a smile of triumph. The dew of 
death was upon the brow, and the closed eyes were 
sunk in the forehead. A figure in the abandonment 
of grief was embracing the corpse, while the last rays 
of the setting sun illumined the face of the sleeper, 
and glanced over the drapery of the mourner. Just 
above rose the evening star. The motto of the picture 
is, i The sun shall no more light thee by day.' It is 
an exquisite thing. Eeligion, poetry, and painting 
had each contributed to make it a perfect gem. I 
never remember to have felt the emotional part of 
my nature so deeply moved as by the contemplation 
of this picture. I felt sorry in turning from it that 



1855.] OUR TRIALS DISCIPLINARY. 208 

my eye caught in the deep shadow of the apartment 
a cross and a string of beads, laid down as if in haste 
when the soul had just fled. After all it is the atone- 
ment which the cross symbolizes that must save us, 
and faith in it has doubtless landed many a spirit in 
heaven which has been the victim of an erroneous 
creed." 

Having spent nearly a month with her friend, she 
joined her mother, now on a visit at Howden. " What 
a pleasant thing it is," she says to Miss B., on Febru- 
ary 24, " to come into the midst of a circle of old 
friends ; to have a warm, joyous welcome from those 
who know you too well to make you fear they have 
formed a false estimate of your character. There 
was such a home feeling about everything here that I 
felt the unnatural frostiness which I had unconsciously 
acquired while passing through the ordeal of Bradford 
and Leeds criticism, thaw and vanish almost as rap- 
idly as snowflakes on a running stream. I begin to 
feel a strong repugnance to artificialness. I like those 
best, as friends I mean, who understand me best. I 
think nature and I are becoming more intimate, a 
friendship I mean to cultivate." 

This friend had been called to pass through scenes 
of deep sorrow. With true-hearted sympathy Miss 
Hessel proceeds : " I experienced some spasmodic 
twitches at my heart when I thought over the past. 
You seemed to me almost like an exile, but never 
mind that now. You are a noble girl, and I hope and 
believe you will fight your battle of life bravely. We 
must be tried, sometimes severely tried, before the 
fortitude, enduring patience, and submission which 



204 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

our Father designs to perfect in us can be brought out. 
Many a time has that sweet text been like a rainbow of 
promise to me : ' I will cause thee to pass under the rod, 
that I may bring thee into the bond of the covenant.' 
May you be blessed with a sweet abiding assurance 
that you are chastened in love and tender mercy ! " 

" A sacred burden is the life ye bear, 
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly ; 
Stand up and walk beneath it stedfastly ; 
Eail not for sorrow, falter not for sin ; 
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win." 

The calamities experienced by our noble troops in 
the Crimea at this period had provoked her brother, 
then resident at Portsmouth, to expose, in a letter to 
"The Watchman," the Sabbath-breaking sanctioned 
by our government in the dockyards. Our national 
sins, it was forcibly argued, might well bring down 
upon us the indignation of the Almighty. Writing to 
her sister-in-law on the Fastday, March 21, she says: 
" I think the Church of God is fearfully responsible in 
the present day, and I hope William's appeal will 
rouse the ministers of our own Church to sound the 
notes of alarm in our sanctuaries to-day. The law of 
God is trampled on in our high places, and while our 
legislators are acting thus, they impiously appeal to 
the God they dishonor for protection and aid. And 
the Church has been winking at this, shunning to de- 
clare the whole counsel of God, and to pronounce the 
thunders of his law in the ears of the transgressors. 
The disasters of our army are opening our eyes, and 
woe unto those Gospel ministers who, having oppor* 
tunity, preach not the law of Sinai in the palace and 



1855.] COLERIDGE'S ANCIENT MARINER. 205 

the court as well as in the sanctuary. I feel thankful 
that William has sounded such a decisive note on this 
subject. God is calling the attention of the nation to 
her crying sins, Sabbath-breaking and drunkenness. 
The increased light she is receiving is fearfully in- 
creasing her responsibility, and it is at the peril of 
her position among the nations, that she disobeys this 
call of God to arise and put from her these accursed 
things. Tell William I sympathize in his labor, and 
pray that his efforts in this noble movement may be 
crowned with success. God give him patience, pru- 
dence, boldness, and faith." 

To Miss S. R., on April 6, she says : " The first 
page of your letter sparkles with wit and puns so 
brilliantly that I was almost dazzled by it, and my 
poor intellect only discovered all its separate gems 
after several readings. If I were to fix my own 
position, it would not be among your ' new order of 
young angels,' but where Carlyle places Samuel 
Johnson, in the rank of '• Seraph shoeblacks.' I don't 
know whether I am complimenting myself, for I don't 
know what he means, but I know what I understand 
by it. 

" While at Howden, I read in an old number of 
4 Hogg's Instructor,' of 1849, an article on Coleridge's 
'Ancient Mariner' which pleased me much. It gives 
an interpretation of the hidden meaning. I can give 
you one or two of the ideas. The shooting of the 
albatross seems a trifle to the woes it entailed, so 
did the eating of an apple to the ruin of a world ; so 
must it always appear unless the magnitude of the 



206 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

law which that action violated be comprehended. 
The only other point on which I must touch refers to 
the change wrought in the heart. You remembei the 
mariner looked on the rolling sea and the slimy 
things, and everything was horrible and hideous in his 
eyes. He tried to pray, but ' a wicked whisper came 
and made his heart as dry as dust.' But a change is 
working in his soul. Suddenly he blessed them un- 
awares. That very moment he could pray ; and to 
his vision now they were God's good creatures, things 
of beauty. The change was in himself, for sure 



And now 



c The gentle sleep Jrom heaven 
Had slid into his soul.' 

' I moved and could not feel my limbs : 

I was so light — almost 
I thought that I had died in sleep, 

And was a blessed ghost.' 

You remember the verse, 

4 He prayeth best who loveth best 

All things both great and small ; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 

He made and loveth all.' 

I have not time to note the more minute points of this 
wonderful poem, and could not do it correctly if I had." 
She writes to the same friend on the 27th, com- 
mencing in a mournful strain : "It is a glorious 
morning. I wish you were with me, I would aban- 
don my desk, and we would wander forth as of old, 
and interchange the pent-up thoughts of our hearts. 
Surely it would dispel the sadness of my spirit to tell 
you all I have felt and suffered for the last month. 
Perhaps I may succeed in dragging some of these 



1855.] JOHN STERLING. 207 

mental burdens to light. Many-hued though they are, 
they may not relish black and white, and so decamp 
while I am writing. First then I experience a most 
deplorable lack of physical and mental energy. I 
think out many subjects, but feel inadequate to com- 
mit any of them to paper. I am weak and irresolute 
about the merest trifles, such as writing a letter, tak- 
ing a walk, or making a call. Mother's indifferent 
health causes an indefinable apprehension of evil. 

" I have been wandering through * Gilfillan's Gal- 
leries of Portraits,' and some of them seem to haunt 
me as Rizzio's eyes did Mrs. Hemans, though with a 
far deeper and more melancholy meaning. Poor John 
Sterling! is he not the type of a large class of the 
youth of this country ? You and I know something 
of that dark, tangled, and terrible path he trod. O, 
when we clasp our Bibles to our hearts, and thank 
God that at length we have come back to the sim- 
plicity of our childhood, and have received power to 
believe what we vainly strove to comprehend, ought 
we not to pity and pray for those who are yet inquir- 
ing, ' What is truth V When we pray ' Thy kingdom 
come,' should we not remember those who are inquir- 
ing for that kingdom, but to whose lofty ken it is all 
too lowly and simple, whose eye of reason is clear and 
bright, while their eye of faith is dim and almost 
visionless ?' 

Miss Hessel's experience constrained her to sym- 
pathize with those who are wandering in doubt and 
groping after truth. And their critical condition cer- 
tainly claims intense sympathy and regard. Her 
suggestion that Christians should remember them in 



208 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

their prayers richly merits attention. Let not the 
confirmed skeptic however indulge the soothing per- 
suasion that power to believe is given to some, while 
to others it. is denied ; that the unbeliever is to be 
pitied more properly than blamed. In the case of 
every intelligent person faith and unbelief are moral 
facts ; they denote a state of heart. Docility and 
desire to do the will of God, submissiveness and sur- 
render to the divine teaching, are the proclaimed 
essentials to the peace and joy of Christian faith. To 
all exercising those virtues these results are pledged. 
" Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for 
the upright in heart." " If any man will do his will 
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." 
Mental habits and idiosyncracies will affect the dura- 
tion and severity of the process, but a glorious issue 
is sure. Confirmed unbelief indicates pride of intel- 
lect or perversity of will. 

" Without or star or angel for their guide, 
Who worship God shall find him. Humble love, 
And not proud reason, keeps the door of heaven. 
Love finds admission where proud science fails. 
Man's science is the culture of his heart, 
And not to lose his plummet in the depths 
Of nature, or the mere profound of God." 

Nor can we permit the confirmed skeptic the undis- 
turbed enjoyment of the notion that faith and reason 
are antagonistic, that to believe is to renounce reason, 
while to follow the dictates of reason is to discard 
faith. The notion is utterly erroneous. Christian 
faith is altogether rational. She has the strongest 
warrant for her acts. She accepts what indeed rea- 



1855.] MODERN LITERATURE. 209 

son is unable to explain, but she accepts it only on 
testimony satisfactory to reason. Faith is the struc- 
ture, reason the basis. She quits reason only as the 
spire quits the foundation of a building. And surely 
the glorious Being who has given us reason may just- 
ly require faith ! 

Should this passage come under the eye of a 
doubter of revelation the writer would beg to offer 
this counsel : Study the book itself. This is the 
most certain way to obtain satisfaction. Read it 
carefully through, the New Testament especially. 
Read the Gospels again and again. Spend not days 
but weeks over it. Shall the scholar ungrudgingly 
spend weeks or months in testing the genuineness of 
some ancient document, and shall that time be deemed 
too much in a matter of vital and eternal importance ? 
We are utterly inexcusable if we do not thoroughly 
examine the book that asserts such claims on our 
attention as the Bible. 

She proceeds : " Sorrowfully have I looked on 
the aspect of modern literature. Our gifted and ris- 
ing poets, Bailey, Massey, Yendys, Smith, and Bigg 
are all tinctured more or less with the mystical creed 
of Carlyle and Emerson. They are very hopeful, 
certainly. Sincere and earnest souls like these must 
be^ threading their way through all the tangled 
meshes of error to the eternal city of truth. But in 
the mean time the gorgeous temple of mystic falsehood 
they are rearing is attracting many votaries. 

" There are some gems in Stanyan Bigg's c Night 
and the Soul.' Some of the songs are exquisite ; but 
there are more solid beauties which I should like to 



210 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

transcribe. A magnificent passage of nearly two 
pages looks temptingly at me. The author seems, in 
the last page, to have worked out the soul-problem 
of the 'Ancient Mariner,' to have learned to love and 
pray. He 

4 Saw all seeming eccentricities 
"Were but the playing of the wider laws, 
While law itself was systematic love. 
The passing winds sang vesper hymns to me, 
And the old woods seemed whispering, "Let us pray." ' 

How I wish we could revel together in this magnifi- 
cence ! 

" I have looked regretfully for some minutes at a 
very beautiful passage. It is a shame to mar its en- 
tirety. I don't want to write any more, but can't 
resist. 

4 Love is the key to knowledge, to true power, 
And he who loveth all things knoweth all. 
Eeligion is the true philosophy ! 
Faith is the last great link 'twixt God and man. 
There is more reason in a whispered prayer 
Than in the ancient lore of all" the schools : 
The soul upon its knees holds God by the hand. 
Worship is wisdo n as it is in heaven. 
I do believe ! help thou my unbelief! 
Is the last, greatest utterance of the soul. 
God came to me as truth— I saw him not ; 
He came to me as love — and my heart broke ; 
And from its inmost depths there came a cry, 
My Father ! my Father, smile on me ! 
And the great Father smiled.' 

Are they not golden proverbs *? fragments, not of 
a rude rock, but a polished and glorious column. 
And yet the same volume is darkened by sad, almost 
hideous, visions of the world and the soul of man." 



1855.] CHALMERS AND GILFILLAN. 211 

On April 31 she communicates to Mr. B. her 
views of Gilfillan's speculative notions of the condi- 
tion of disembodied spirits. " Have you read Chal- 
mers's Astronomical Discourses ? 1 had just finished 
them when I took up Gilfillan, and was not a little 
pleased to see that the same thoughts had occurred to 
my humble self and the great critic as to the fallacy ^ 
of some of the arguments. The following suggestive 
theory in his portrait of the doctor struck me forci- 
bly. You will remember that Chalmers's heaven is 
a very material one ; that he makes the ingredients 
of its happiness but the refinement of the happiness 
of a sanctified spirit here, and supposes we shall be 
cognizant after death of all the material universe 
around us. Gilfillan suggests that we shall pass into 
a purely spiritual state at death, or at least that the 
grosser phenomena of matter will be then as invisi- 
ble to us as are now the microscopic worlds. This 
conviction, he says, came upon him two years ago 
with a startling force which he felt more than enough 
for his own mind. He afterward met with some 
striking corroborative passages in Edgar Poe. I 
long to ask him the following questions : Does not 
the spirit pass at death into the presence of its Re- 
deemer, who bore to some locality a veritable hu- 
man body ? But supposing a disembodied spirit to 
exist in a purely spiritual state, must not material- 
ism necessarily be visible to it after its reunion with 
the body ? I can imagine the grosser phenomena of 
matter invisible to a disembodied spirit, but a ' pure- 
ly spiritual ^state,' and 'purely spiritual scenery,' 
exclude such a spirit from the presence, or at least 
14 



212 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

from the recognition of the God-man. What is your 
theory as to the state of disembodied spirits 1 Every 
theory I have met with is unsatisfactory." 

" You remember that sweet little poem you gave 

me from ' Night and the Soul.' There are hundreds 

of gems equal to it in the book. I will give you one. 

# A lover is standing over the grave of his mistress on 

a stormy evening, just as 

{ The tawny twilight creeps into the dark 
Like a dun, angry lion to his den.' 

Listen to this gloomy music : 

1 The clouds like grim black faces come and go, 

One tall tree stretches up Against the sky, 
It lets the rain through like a trembling hand 

Pressing the fingers on a watery eye. 
The moon came, but shrank back like a young girl 

Who has burst in upon funereal sadness. 
One star came. Cleopatra-like, the night 

Swallowed this one pearl in a fit of madness. 
And here I stand, the welt' ring heaven above, 
Beside thy lonely grave, my lost, my buried love !' " 

Remote from latitudinarianism in her views of 
truth and duty, Miss Hessel avoided a blind adher- 
ence to prescribed human standards. Speaking of 
young friends whose views she thought too restricted, 
she says to Mrs. W. on May 10 : "I think I suc- 
ceeded in impressing upon them the important truth, 
that religion does not always walk in that precise line 
which our notions have drawn, and in no other ; that 
c the river of the water of life,' according to Cheever, 
and the Bible too, winds hither and thither, and al- 
ways will ; that the tree of life bears twelve manner of 



1855.] KEASON AND FAITH. 213 

fruits, and always will ; and that we are not to say of 
any but the immoral, that religion has no place in 
their hearts, however much its brightness may be 
dimrrfed by the fogs of earth. 

"And now for your interrogatories. Were I to 
begin to answer them one by one, 1 fancy my replies 
would sound very contradictory. I thank you for 
them nevertheless. They are valuable as helps to 
self-examination. Your dear good husband, who is 
4 jealous over me with a godly jealousy,' pointed out 
the danger which he thought my course of reading in- 
curred. I could but partially agree with him, for I 
thought I had been regaled with a very wholesome 
medley lately — the ' Literary Portraits,' Bunyan's 
'Pilgrim's Progress,' your friend Mr. (now Dr.) 
Cairns's Translation of Elijah, the Letters of Junius, 
and the Memoir of an American Missionary to Turkey 
— Mr. Hamlin. 

"With reference to Gilfillan, I will tell you its effects 
on me as far as I know them. His portraits of Emer- 
son, Carlyle, John Sterling, and George Dawson are 
those which have most deeply affected and impressed 
me. I have read, paused, and wept. I have clasped 
the Bible to my heart with a deeper, a more intense 
love and reverence for its blessed, soul-saving truths. 
I have thanked God with a more fervent gratitude that, 
though I wandered long and wearily on the borders 
of that dark forest of negations in which poor John 
Sterling all but lost himself, his infinite mercy led me 
forth to the sunlight, and gave me the childlike noble 
faculty to believe instead of further question. This 
has led me to pray, as I never prayed before, for the 



214 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

thousands of my ' young and gifted countrymen and 
women who are sincerely seeking the truth, but seek- 
ing it, alas ! with the lamp of reason only instead of 
that of faith also ; in whose souls there is a deep and 
exceeding bitter cry, 'I would believe, but cannot.' 
Read Gilfillan, and you will understand my feelings. 
The pulpit is silent on a subject on which our minis- 
ters ought to speak with tongues of fire, especially in 
our large and intelligent congregations. The battle 
being shirked by it, the press must take it up. But 
at present Gilfillan seems, like David, the sole cham- 
pion of Israel against this fearful Goliath. But surely 
there are many upon whose foreheads God has set a 
mark, who sigh and cry unto him daily that he may 
rebuke the waves of this soul- engulfing sea, and bid 
her 'give up her dead,' that they may live. This and 
kindred subjects have been the burden of my heart 
since I saw you." 

Our friend here furnishes evidence of participation 
in a common frailty. It is well known that whenever 
a subject occupies exclusive or inordinate attention for 
a lengthened period a morbid feeling is excited, and 
the equilibrium of the judgment is destroyed. Within 
the circle in which she moved Gilfillan was probably 
the only writer known who assailed the evil she de- 
plored. But there were other writers who were as 
vigorous, and, in the opinion of many, as efficient com- 
batants, with whom we may justly wonder she was 
not acquainted. Nor can we allow her opinion on 
the silence of the pulpit to pass unchallenged. Per- 
haps it may have spoken out less frequently and fully 
than some desired, and than was really desirable. 



1855.] - MORAL STRUGGLES. 215 

The extension of its prevalent range of topics would 
no doubt be a public benefit. There are topics con- 
nected with theology, however, for the adequate dis- 
cussion of which the press supplies a more fitting me- 
dium than the pulpit, and it may be queried whether 
this is not one of them. Her deep solicitude for what 
she held to be vital truth, and her sympathy with 
those who are " feeling " after it, shall win our admi- 
ration, however, if, on this occasion, her feeling some- 
what disturbed her judgment. 

"As to my more immediately personal experience, 5 ' 
she proceeds, "I can only say I am like a little bark 
on a tempestuous ocean, gathering up my strength 
after the shock of one breaker to prepare for the next 
— conquering one difficulty only to make way for 
another. But still I think I am making headway. 
The struggle is ' not for naught.' 

" With reference to those more public duties you 
so often urge upon me, I have to report no better suc- 
cess. Sometimes when my feelings have been wrung 
and tested to the utmost I feel like the poor Scotch 
woman at Chalmers's communion : ' I cannot speak 
for the Saviour, but I think: I can die for him.' Re- 
turning from a struggle of this nature in which I had 
been defeated, I have laid my panting, wearied soul at 
the Saviour's feet and cried: 'Take me hence. I 
would go home. Let me serve thee in thy temple 
above, or minister to the little ones of thy kingdom 
free from the clog of this diseased mortality.' And 
then, when the troubled waters of excited feeling have 
subsided, I have said, 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as 
thou wilt.'" (Then follows the passage given on page 1 5.) 



216 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

"But enough of this. What am I now, contrasted with 
what I was, and with that darker picture of what I migh 
have been but for the grace of God and the holy influ- 
ences of maternal and paternal love? Contrasted with 
these, I have indeed need to thank God, and a thousand 
chords in my heart vibrate notes of gratitude when- 
ever I think of it. But that brighter picture of what 
I might have been! O I have need to bow my 
head — to weep, and pray to be forgiven ! Many 
thanks for your letter, for your generous friendship, 
for all I owe you." 

On Tuesday, May 22, an occurrence transpired 
which caused grief and consternation at Boston Spa; 
how much more at Howden? Her uncle Campbell 
died without a moment's premonition. The catas- 
trophe was heightened by the fact of his absence from 
home. " My poor uncle," Miss Hessel writes on the 
29th, "had gone over to Ashly-Grange, in Lincoln- 
shire, to look over an estate which he had purchased. 
He was in perfect health and excellent spirits when 
he left home on Monday morning. On Tuesday, 
after dinner, he was about to leave the Grange, and 
sat chatting. He stopped in the middle of a sen- 
tence, and before any one could reach him was a 
corpse. 

"To me it seemed a sad and sorrowful dream. I 
had a vague idea of something awful having happened, 
but every attempt to realize the fact seemed unavail- 
ing until yesterday, when my cup of sorrow was filled 
to overflowing. To-day the vision, with its awful dis- 
tinctness, has passed away, and I thank God for it. I 



1855.] REV. B. GREGORY. 217 

never had such views of the Divine Being as during 
the last few days. They have been quite new, and 
somewhat perplexing. I have felt to lay my poor 
aching heart at the foot of the mercy-seat; the radi- 
ance of divine tenderness and compassion has shone 
toward me, but I have seen, though turned from me, 
the pillar of cloud — of divine and inscrutable justice. 
As I have gazed and wondered there has been a firm 
but kind voice heard in my soul, [ Be still, and know 
that I am God;' and thus, though I have mourned, 
and wept, and writhed beneath the blow, I have enter- 
tained no hard thoughts of God." 

After communicating the sad intelligence to Mr. 
B., she writes on June 7 : " We had great difficulty 
in putting ourselves into presentable attire by Satur- 
day evening, when we went to Tadcaster to spend a 
few days. Such a change seemed absolutely neces- 
sary after the shock we had experienced. Their mis- 
sionary anniversary services were being held. Mr. 
Lightwood of Leeds preached two beautiful sermons 
on Sunday. The Rev. B. Gregory was at the meet- 
ing. He is a wonderful man ; not an orator, but a 
genius ; casting forth pearls as the wind shakes drops 
from a tree after rain. His person is scarcely more 
than the figure of a man — a specimen of etherealized 
humanity. At the chairman's call he rose and said : 
'I have often visited Tadcaster in imagination, Mr. 
Chairman; I have often longed to visit it in reality. 
It has long been identified in my memory with two 
names — those of Entwisle and Hessel. Mr. Hessel's 
earliest and last days were, I believe, spent in this 
locality.' So unexpected was the sentiment that I 



218 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

nearly started from my seat, and burst into tears. 
Unfortunately I was visible to the whole congrega- 
tion. It was a touching but precious tribute to that 
loved and gifted brother whose eloquent tongue, had 
he lived, might have been heard even there advocat- 
ing the claims of that vast empire for which his noble 
heart beat to the last, India. But that head which 
might have been lifted up among the noblest there 
now wears a crown, and that tongue has been baptized 
with fire from the altar of the heavenly temple, and 
its sanctified eloquence is heard in the highest court 
of the universe. Ah, he had to die that he might 
teach thousands how to live ! This thought stills my 
rebellion and quenches my vain regret. God grant 
that we may emulate his holy zeal and earnestness of 
purpose ! I supped with Mr. Gregory, and spent a 
delightful evening in listening to him." 

Mrs. Hessel, whom the sad bereavement had sum- 
moned to Howden, returned home an invalid. Ere 
she had quite recovered, her younger daughter was 
seized with an alarming illness. " She had a gather- 
ing in her ear, and suppurated quinsey in the throat, 
attended with high fever." Considering her own in- 
firm state of health, we do not wonder to find Miss 
Hessel " tried to the utmost of her powers of endur- 
ance." One day she " sat down and burst into tears." 
What sudden alternations, however, occasionally cross 
our path ! The Alpine traveler* does not pass more 
suddenly from vegetable life and beauty to the bar- 
renness of " eternal snows," than we are sometimes 
called to pass " from gay to grave and grave to gay." 
While she was giving vent to the overflowings of her 



1855.] JOYFUL INTELLIGENCE. 219 

pierced heart, the postman was wending his way to 
her with unexpected and peculiarly joyous intelli- 
gence. "A double 'knock on the muffled rapper" 
announced his arrival. The handwriting of her cousin 
is instantly recognized, and the assurance that kind 
sympathy will be conveyed by the unconscious mes- 
senger urges to the prompt rupture of the seal. " In 
three minutes" every feature of the countenance is 
changed — the heavy heart bounds with joy. What 
can be the intelligence which produces such effects'? 
It is such as only a spiritual mind could have appre- 
ciated. Her cousin, whom she had often urged to a 
practical recognition of the claims of Christ, had, 
after long hesitancy, become decided. Her decision 
brought to maturity the half formed purposes of the 
gentleman to whom the earnest and affectionate ap- 
peal on page 191 had been addressed. Fully occu- 
pied though she was, not a post was lost in acknowl- 
edging this communication. "Your letter came to 
hand," says she, "most opportunely this morning. 
Joy welled up in my heart ; a joy too pure and hal- 
lowed for anything but secret tears, and prayers, and 
praise. I retired to my room to thank God, and to 
entreat his blessing on you both. May he in very 
deed bless you ! O how my heart rejoiced ! I have 
no words that can express my gratitude. 

"I have wondered that Mr. F. never answered or 
in any way noticed the letter I wrote to him in winter, 
but I have never regretted sending it. I have often 
prayed that in some way or other God would lead 
him to that decision of character which would add so 
much to your mutual happiness. I tell you this be- 



220 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

cause you know what alternations of hope and fear I 
have suffered with regard to some whose salvation has 
lain near my heart. And though I am far from arro- 
gating to myself the smallest credit for this delightful 
result, I could not come before God without saying, 
4 Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.' 

" For yourself, dear Mary, I have long been 
thankful that the Lord has gently opened your 
heart, and that you have been led to say, 4 1 call the 
world's Eedeemer mine.' Give yourself fully to God 
and his Church. Aim at a high standard of Christian 
experience. Let religion be an all-pervading prin- 
ciple, bringing into subjection your will and entire 
affections. I shall be glad to correspond freely with 
you on these matters. I have experienced something 
of the warfare on which you are entering. Do not 
faint or grow weary in it. It is a glorious warfare. 

"I shall look eagerly for any further information 
you feel at liberty to send me about Mr. F., and 
especially should I prize a communication from him- 
self. I can fully appreciate his delicacy in speaking 
about this matter, but I think if he knew how much I 
have longed to see this day, he would not shrink from 
making me the partaker of his experiences. Is there 
not encouragement here for those Christian laborers 
who are discouraged because of their non-apparent 
success? 'Be not weary in well-doing, for in due 
season ye shall reap if ye faint not.'" 

Miss Hessel's reading, it will have been observed, 
was multifarious. There was no department of liter- 
ature which was not laid, more or less, under tribute. 



1855.] HEE NICE DISCRIMINATION. 221 

Through the kindness of her numerous friends there 
was scarcely any work of note to which she had not 
access. The writings of Garlyle and Dr. Channing 
became accessible about this time. Report had been 
conflicting concerning the merits of both these writers, 
and she was glad to have the opportunity of judging 
for herself. Had the gratification of a morbid curi- 
osity been the object contemplated in their perusal, 
the writer must have employed a tone of condemna- 
tion. But improvement was sought, and, it is be- 
lieved, secured. She possessed, in an extraordinary 
degree, a delicate, instinctive sense of the just and 
true. "She had the happy art," says an intimate 
friend, " of deriving good wherever it was to be found. 
Her nice discrimination has often surprised me. 
Both Carlyle and Channing contributed to her spiritual 
as well as mental benefit. She saw with the quick- 
est perception where they deviated from the truth." 
What intelligent mind could come into contact with 
the prodigious vigor of the Scotchman, or the lofty 
and quickening sentiment of the American, without 
benefit? Before any one quotes Miss Hessel's author- 
ity, however, for the perusal of such authors, let them 
not only exhibit her qualities of head and heart, but 
contemplate her object. While it may be success- 
fully contended that breadth of view can only be ob- 
tained by intercourse with those who differ from us, 
we ought to have some well examined principles by 
which to test new opinions. An excursionist should 
not only have a home, but sufficient geographical 
knowledge to determine the relation of his present 
locality to it. An invalid must not plead the example 



222 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL, [1855. 

of a healthy man as a reason for his exchange of what 
is easy, for what is difficult of digestion. 

To the gentleman who had lent her, somewhat re- 
luctantly, the works of Dr. Channing, she writes : " I 
have read the ordination address, entitled ' Unitarian 
Christianity.' Don't be alarmed when I say, that 
though I felt as if the ground under me was giving 
way, by turning to the premises with which he sets 
out I was soon reassured. They are something to 
this effect : that God, in making a revelation to man, 
does it in language comprehensible to his intellect ; 
that such a revelation appeals to his reason, and that 
it is his bounden duty to exercise that reason upon 
every part of it. Hence Channing constructs a beau- 
tiful system, supported to a wonderful extent by quo- 
tations and inferences from Scripture. Vinet writes 
beautifully on the use of reason, the mysteries of our 
religion, and the impossibility of a revelation from 
the infinite to the finite, which should contain no mys- 
teries. Since it is a mathematical demonstration that 
a smaller circle cannot contain a larger, I am content 
to believe that a finite mind cannot grasp the infinite, 
and that a revelation from God, which relates largely 
to himself, must of necessity have many mysteries. 
Stanyan Bigg says, 

i Could reason scale the battlements of heaven, 
Eeligion were a vain and futile thing ; 
And faith a toy for childhood, or the mad.' 

St. Paul, the prince of strong and original thinkers, 
sitting on the threshold of that wondrous temple of 
divine truth into which his eagle eye pierced further 
than any other mortal's, exclaims : ' Without contro- 



1855.] DR. CHANNING. 223 

versy great is the mystery of godliness : God was 
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of 
angels, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory.' I prefer him to those who will receive only 
what is comprehensible. 

"By the by, there are two things I wonder at — 
Channing admits the entire harmony of the revelation 
of nature with that of the Bible. The one he regards 
as a greater, the other as a lesser, revelation. Did 
he find the lesser lay open all her secret laws and 
mysteries to his reason ? If not, how presumptuous 
to expect it of the greater ! And then did his reason 
comprehend how that ' first-born of God' — the next 
intelligence in the universe to the 4 One God,' who, he 
admits, dwelt in the bosom of the Father — became 
the babe in the manger, the man of sorrows \ " 

Though Miss Hessel was not utterly unequipped for 
this controversy, it was not to be expected that the 
reasonings of this writer were to be disposed of thus 
summarily. To a mind of her order, for which 
danger has fascination, they would be sure again and 
again to recur ; and we shall subsequently find that 
she became unsettled in her views on the subject of 
Christ's proper divinity, and continued so for some 
brief period, only, however, to be more firmly because 
more intelligently established in that all-important 
truth. 

i An agreement had recently been entered into with 
Miss S. R., that a paper on some prescribed subject 
should occasionally be exchanged. A subject had 
been mutually accepted. Timely information of fail- 



224 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

ure on her part is sent in the accompanying note. 
Would not the feeling of disappointment be counter- 
balanced by the nobility of character exhibited 1 

" It must come, the humiliating confession that I can- 
not master a given mental task. I have battled with 
this enemy and find him too strong. I have striven to 
conquer, because I knew such a conquest would be 
the prelude to many more, but it is in vain. This 
once I am vanquished, and I fear weakened by the 
defeat. 

" There is another subject, however/ on which I have 
dotted down a few thoughts, but I cannot write a 
paper by Monday. Then what is to be done ? Prove 
yourself the noble, generous girl I take you to be, 
and send me your paper at the time appointed. I will 
send you mine when it is done. No, I feel it is too 
bad of me to say that; I will put the proposal in 
another form. If you don't send it, I will think of 
you as I have ever done. If you do, I will exalt you 
to the very pinnacle of my standard of goodness, and 
from my lowliness admire you henceforth and for- 
ever. Now I leave it with you." 

No unbiased reader will believe that Miss Hessel 
would divest life of enjoyment. The fact that the 
Creator causes the earth to produce flowers as well as 
fruits appeared to her full of significance. Her 
sprightly temperament prompted to great sympathy 
with the young in their quest of enjoyment. Her 
views on some of the sources from which it is sought 
may therefore justly claim consideration. A friend 
had solicited her opinion on the propriety of attending 



1855.] GAY PAETIES. 225 

"gay parties." "My views on this matter are very 
decided," she replies on July 17. "'Is it not tempt- 
ing the tempter V you ask. I think it is. And what 
a solemn mockery to pray, ' Lead us not into tempta- 
tion,' when we deliberately walk into it! Do you 
remember Mr. Jay's startling address to his young 
people on the subject of balls, concerts, gay parties, 
etc? c If I saw the devil running away with some of 
you I could not cry "Stop thief!" You trespass on 
his territory, and thus render yourself his lawful 
prey ! ' That is a solemn fact, stated in striking, 
though, to refined ears, perhaps inelegant terms. We 
walk on enchanted ground when we wander into places 
of worldly amusement" Let those who have had 
experience ask themselves whether the moral atmos- 
phere of such places is healthy ? And let those who 
have not had experience profit by those who have. 
Gratification purchased at the cost of mental or moral 
dissipation is surely too dear. 

After expatiating on several topics she tells Mr. F., 
on August 9, that with his talents and energies he 
" may rear a noble structure, a monument of useful- 
ness which men and angels shall behold with pleasure 
and satisfaction. Is it not a stimulating thought that 
these happy intelligences are watching our struggles, 
perhaps often aiding us, and warding off unseen dan- 
ger % Surely amid the many lofty subjects they are 
permitted to contemplate, that process of discipline 
by which man is restored to holiness has no mean 
place. Intimately associated as it is with the glory 
of God, possibly it holds the highest rank among the 
subjects they delight to contemplate." 



226 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

Writing of an invalid who had evinced some reluct- 
ance to .forego a personal gratification for the sake 
of another enjoying it, she characteristically says : "I 
tried to put the thing in a right light, and set forth the 
blessedness of living for others, of sometimes forget- 
ing ourselves in our endeavors to promote another's 
happiness. Persons who have had much affliction are 
apt to get the notion that their sole enjoyment consists 
in being ministered to. It is a great mistake. There 
are few virtues, the exercise of which brings with it 
such a rich and present reward as that of self-denial." 

" I have got Vinet's ' Gospel Studies,' " she writes 
to one of her friends on the 15th. "You know what 
a favorite he is of mine. One of the lectures is on 
6 the believer completing the sufferings of Christ.' 
Col. i, 24. He furnishes what I consider a satisfactory 
explanation of the passage, and gives to the sufferings 
of believers a higher sublimity than is derived from 
the notion that they are merely disciplinary. He 
puts it in something like this form. The Church is 
Christ's successor and representative on earth; she con- 
tinues his work ; part of that work was suffering, and this 
is the badge of successorship, her distinctive glory. 
Christ is carrying on his work by the Church, suffer- 
ing, so to speak, in his Church, not for the completion 
of his personal sufferings for the world's atonement — 
they were complete at the hour of his crucifixion — but 
for the completion of those which he is to endure to 
the end of the world in the persons of believers. I 
think Scripture will bear out this view of the case. 
The word signifies not only to finish but to correspond. 
Is it not an ennobling thought that by suffering we are 



1855.] A SOLEMN STIMULUS TO ZEAL. 227 

'filling up that which is behind of the sufferings of 
Christ, making our life to correspond with his life, not 
only suffering for him, but suffering with him, sharing 
his humiliation as we hope to share his glory ?" 

The Wesleyan Conference was held in Leeds this 
year, and during its sittings Miss Hessel spent a few 
days with her friend, at whose home one or two 
Wesleyan ministers were entertained. " She enjoyed 
her visit most thoroughly," that lady says. " None 
were more light-hearted than she. The society she 
met was just to her mind, intelligent and cheerful, 
and she was often quite brilliant. I often wished for 
a Bos well to record those conversations. 

" One day when the Rev. B. Gregory was here, as 
we were rambling in the glen, the conversation 
turned upon Emma Tatham. We had just heard of 
her death, and Eliza was much affected by it. She 
remarked that we must set about working for God 
more zealously, since he was removing those who 
would have worked so well. She then determined to 
know more of the mind of Christ, and serve him 
more faithfully. How well she kept this resolve 
those know best who were most intimate with her. 
I was a constant witness of her increasing faith and 
love, and was often astonished at her amount of re- 
ligious enjoyment. I much regret my inability to 
recall those conversations, for, apart from their bril- 
liance and beauty, they revealed much of her inner 
self. And she was indeed, as Carlyle says of John 
Sterling, c a beautiful human soul.' " 
15 



228 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Thoughts on her Sainted Brother — Her Views of Duty not coin- 
cident with those of some of ber Friends — Increasing Love for 
the Bible — Thomas Carlyle — The Duty of Christians in rela- 
tion to the morally degraded — Counsels to a recent Convert — 
A valuable Sentiment from Coleridge — A Soliloquy — A Scrap 
of Mental Jlistory — The Eclipse of Faith — Spiritual Ego- 
tism — Happy Toil ■— Illness of her Cousin at Howden — Ano- 
ther Scrap of Mental History — Her Cousin's Death — Life 
under a New Phase — Visit to Congleton — Dr. Kitto — The 
Leper. 

Having to spend some days in Leeds during the 
month of August, the biographer determined to visit 
Boston Spa> The promptitude and cordiality with 
which Miss Hessel received him into her friendship, 
the frankness with which, in a long walk, she made 
him acquainted with the more important passages in 
her mental and moral history, together with the inter- 
esting characteristics of that history, invested the in- 
tercourse with a peculiar charm. How little did the 
writer think that ere three summers had elapsed he 
should be mournfully employed in embalming her 
memory, 

In a letter received from her a few days afterward 
she says, August 16: "As I wrote the date at the top 
of this letter, the recollection flashed across my mind 
that this is the anniversary of dear John's birthday. 
He has been nearly seventeen years in heaven. 
Seventeen years of uninterrupted progression in 
knowledge, in holiness, in bliss, with a mind unfet- 



1855,] HER SAINTED BROTHER. 229 

tered in its researches and a soul unencumbered by 
infirmity or sin in its aspirations ! How incompar- 
ably nobler he must be now than when he first entered 
his heavenly mansion ! I did not tell you how of 
late years the idea of him has strangely interwoven 
itself with my inner being. I have rarely spoken of 
this ; but I fancy you will not deem it foolish or 
visionary, possibly you may sympathize with it, may 
have yourself realized a similar feeling. 

" I have no sympathy with the theory of Gilfillan, 
that we pass at death into an entirely spiritual state, 
into a region where the forms of matter are as in- 
visible as the microscopic worlds now are. It is a 
fondly cherished thought of mine, that the beloved 
brother who is enshrined in my memory and heart as 
the fairest unfolding of a truly noble character, has 
not forgotten, in that higher state of being, the ob- 
jects which interested him on earth — that his loving 
eye has often rested with interest on that wondering 
child whom he used to take into his arms and talk to 
about God, and to whom he explained the phenomena 
of thunder and lightning. I have a vivid recollection 
of this latter circumstance. He took me with him 
in one of his rambles, and we were overtaken by a 
storm. I was a mere child. He folded me in his 
arms, and as he sheltered in an old hut, talked to me 
about the cause of lightning and thunder, and the 
greatness of the God w T ho controls the mighty agents 
of nature. I well remember the feeling of security 
which crept over me as he spoke, the soft pleasure 
which the tones of his voice diffused through my little 
soul, and the wondering awe with which his loftiness 



230 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL, [1855. 

of thought and expression impressed me. I have a 
persuasion of which I think no reasoning could rob 
me, that as a ministering spirit he has watched the 
mental struggles through which I have passed, and 
that through all those anxious years when I was re- 
volving the all-important question of Pilate's, ' What 
is truth V he had some agency in guiding my inquiries 
to a right issue. One of my most pleasing anticipa- 
tions, next to the thought of meeting my Saviour and 
God in heaven, is that of seeing him, and enjoying 
his society. 

" I should ask pardon of any other than yourself 
for thus writing, if indeed it were possible for me to 
write thus of him to any one else. I know that 

to you 

' There Is naught 
Like the tried friendship of the sacred dead.' 

My own very slender recollections of his interest and 

affection are unspeakably precious because that 

affection 

4 Cannot hide its face; it changeth not, 
Grieves not, suspects not, cannot pass away, 
But as a seal upon the melted heart 
'Tis set for ever.' " 

It is no wonder to the writer that her sainted brother 
should be enshrined in her memory and heart. Few 
sisters are honored to have a brother who at the age 
of twenty-four has become the depository of such 
" mental and moral excellence," and bequeathed to the 
world such a legacy of quickening thought. It was 
the writer's privilege to be his most intimate friend 
for several years, and to prepare his "Memorials" 



1855.J RASH JUDGMENTS, 231 

for the press. Some notion may be formed of the 
estimate put upon them when it is stated that five 
thousand copies have obtained circulation. As to the 
agency believed to have been exercised by him in 
guiding her inquiries to a right issue, some doubt may 
be justly entertained. The notion derives no sanction 
from holy writ. And would not its acceptance in- 
volve the unscriptural Romish dogma of prayers to 
saints ? 

Few persons who endeavor to promote the general 
interests of society have been less annoyed by mis- 
apprehension of aim or misinterpretation of motive 
than Miss Hessel. Her sympathy with whatever 
was benevolent was so unequivocal, her readiness to 
give practical exemplification of this sympathy so 
cordial, and there was so much genuine frankness in 
her nature, that she was as little liable as most per- 
sons to this kind of annoyance. It would have been 
marvelous, however, if the course she prescribed was 
invariably approved. She informs Mr. B» that her 
duties at this time were not viewed in the same as- 
pect by herself and some of her friends. Her expla- 
nation enforces the duty of caution against pronounc- 
ing on the conduct of persons of whose circumstances 
we have not a full knowledge : 

" Some of the good people here seem to think me 
anything but a worker because I do not work in their 
way. They would force me into work for which, by 
constitution and habit, I am totally unfit, and from 
which I shrink most painfully, They see and know 
nothing of the mental labor I perform, nor at what 



232 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

cost I accomplish it. That part of the day which to 
me would be invaluable for reading and writing is 
necessarily occupied with domestic duties. Then I 
have labored unusually hard for ' the Basket,' a very 
questionable duty with me now that so many others 
press upon me." 

Who will hesitate to coincide with the view she 
takes as to the questionableness of this duty 1 By 
her needle she was undoubtedly benefiting the locality, 
but by her pen she would have been benefiting man- 
kind. The former could have been done as efficiently 
by many others — not so the latter. So far from do- 
ing too little of what passes under the name of 
" work " she did too much. The strain upon that 
frail frame was too great. 

In a few days after she says to the same friend : 
" I have a great deal of work before me, and I sigh 
heavily sometimes, for it oppresses me." Would 
that there had been some one who had heard those 
sighs, and uttered a timely and effectual remon- 
strance ! Let no one, however, from the blow struck 
at her health by overexertion in the cause of benevo- 
lence, seek refuge from a similar disaster in the bow- 
ers of indolence. Let all who find no higher object 
than gratification for which to live mark well what 
follows : 

" Nevertheless it is a thousand times happier 
life than one of idleness, and I have lately felt 
it to be one of rich enjoyment." Here is valuable 
instruction for the victim of ennui. Active and en- 
grossing service in the cause of benevolence is the 
cure for that dire disease. 



1855.] LOVE FOR THE SCRIPTURES. 238 

" Labor is life ! 'Tis the still water faileth j 
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth ; 
Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth ; 
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon." 

" I thank you for your letter," she adds in a post- 
script. u I think your test of any new doctrine, or 
new presentation of an old one, admirable. The tend- 
ency of all that the Divine Teacher taught was man's 
elevation, moral and intellectual. May he be your 
guide through the labyrinth of intellectual research, 
and may you come forth girded for the fight, armed 
with the whole armor of God ! Be a student of the 
word ! Untold wealth lies in it." 

" With reference to both practical and devotional 
reading," she says to Mrs. W., "I have found that 
the Psalms of David and the teachings of our Lord 
furnish the best. They are to me inexhaustible well- 
springs, always fresh and pure. I have resolved to 
study the ethics of the New Testament with greater 
diligence. The book of Psalms has long been my 
daily manual of devotion. Among the recent rich 
additions to my happiness I rank this as the most 
precious : an increasing admiration of and love for 
the Bible, and more especially for the record of my 
Saviour's teachings. My head and hands are always 
full of work, so full that I sometimes feel oppressed, 
and would fain redeem the time by taxing my ener- 
gies severely for a while, But this I find bad policy, 
and my health invariably suffers for it, 

" Upon the whole what a life of rich enjoyment is 
mine ! Some of the choicest blessings of friendship 



234 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

have fallen to my lot. Chief among them I must 
rank hers whose loftier nature, like a loadstone, drew 
me to my proper center during those years of doubt 
and perplexity through which I passed." 

After expressing her apprehensions that increased 
acquaintance with her would result in diminished 
esteem, she says to the "biographer on October 2 : 
"You know well that pantings after the noblest in- 
tellectual and moral excellence may exist in connec- 
tion with very insignificant attempts and very seri- 
ous defects. I tell you this merely that you may 
understand me ; but as I detest cant and mock hu- 
mility I shall not indulge in this strain. You have 
offered me your friendship ; I have readily and grate- 
fully accepted it, and I mean to turn it" to some good 
account, to convert it into stepping-stones to aid me 
in the realization of that standard whose outlines 
have latterly been assuming a distinctness which has 
at once encouraged and humbled me. 

" Since I wrote last my time has been very much 
occupied with visitors and visiting and a press of 
domestic duties. Still I have managed to get a lit- 
tle reading done, and have nearly finished Charming. 
What Carlyle says of the Koran is eminently true 
"of this and some other books, his own not excepted. 
' Read it through — leave it behind, once get clear 
away from it, and out of the mass of error you may 
select many gems of truth, may perceive that the 
man had a meaning and one worth finding out.' Of 
Channing one may say more than this, and even out 
of this Unitarianism of his I have got something 



1855.] CARLYLE. 235 

good : such a view of Christ as my exemplar as I 
never had before; such a deep conviction that the 
divine man of Galilee is a veritable humanity to be 
earnestly studied and closely copied. 

" Have you read much of Carlyle % I have pene- 
trated a little through his shaggy garb and rough 
exterior, and have been wonderfully attracted. I was 
introduced to a more intimate acquaintance with him 
through his ' Heroes and Hero-worship.' I am now 
reading his 'Past and Present.' I do not feel compe- 
tent to pronounce upon him until I have read his ' Life 
of John Sterling.' I greatly fear I shall be compelled 
to withdraw much of the admiration I now feel. 
What I have read would lead me to hope and believe 
that he is a real earnest truth-seeker, and I have great 
faith in a glorious issue to all such seeking. That he 
is a genuine and deep thinker I do not doubt; but 
you must be prepared to love him before you can ex- 
pect to understand him. Again and again I have been 
repelled by his phraseology, his rude and rugged utter- 
ances ; but that they were meaningless ' I, for my 
part,' to quote his words, ' could at no moment, un- 
der no form, in the least believe.' He has a wonder- 
fully deep insight into men and things, a faculty of 
discerning evils, weaknesses, shams, etc., and also an 
eye for and appreciation of the noble and good. But 
alas ! he supplies us with no panacea for the ills he 
so nobly exposes. His ' gospel ' is in truth a very 
meager one. He seems half ashamed of it himself, 
and only lets it peep out here and there. 4 Know 
thy work, and do it,' is his latest revelation; 4 to know 
thyself thou wilt never be able.' Ah ! there are 



236 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

cycles of human wretchedness which he has an eye 
keen enough to detect, but for which this gospel is 
unremedial. 

"This morning I read the 'Sermon on the Mount' 
before taking up Carlyle. What a wondrous com- 
pendium of the sublimest morality ! What a clear 
dissecting and laying bare of the shams of Judaism in 
that reiterated ' Ye have heard that it hath been said !' 
And what transcendent wisdom and grandeur beamed 
out upon the world in those majestic teachings of god- 
like authority announced with the impressive, ' But I 
say unto you !' In reading this unique sermon, one 
begins, as Coleridge says of philosophy, 'in wonder, 
and ends in wonder ; while admiration fills up the 
interstice.' Did he but recognize that truth which is 
able l to purge men's consciences from dead works,' I 
believe Carlyle would be the most valuable writer of 
the day, He seems to linger so wonderingly around 
the life and death of Jesus, to halt and muse with 
such a trembling, half believing, halfdoubting con- 
sciousness of the divine mystery of redemption wrapped 
up in him, that one hopes he will ere long recognize 
the glorious truth." 

A letter to Miss S. R., on October 11, supplies an 
illustration of the way in which light reading was 
made subservient to high moral purposes. M Yester- 
day Bulwer's ' Eugene Aram ' came in my way, and 
spell-bound me until too late for post. You will not 
wonder at this, seeing I have never met with it before e 
It is a dangerous book. What a fascination he throws 
around the criminal ! But some things in it have set 



1855.] RICH ENJOYMENTS. 237 

me a thinking. Is the world to be made better by 
the good casting forth the evil to neglect and the 
defilement of their own pollution ? How we shrink 
from contact with guilt ! How we say in effect to the 
degraded wretch who chances to cross our path, ' Stand 
by, I am better than thou !' Do we not share the same 
humanity % Maybe we have been alike tempted, and 
who maketh us to differ 1 Maybe we were not tempt- 
ed ; should not we therefore pity rather than loathe ? 

" I have been thinking also about the Church in its 
relation to the guilt and woes of the world. Ah! did 
she go forth in the spirit of her Divine Founder, how 
mighty would be her conquests ! Who of us can 
estimate as he did the guilt, defilement, and terrible 
consequences of sin? Yet he shrank not from contact 
with that degraded wretch whom the Pharisees would 
have stoned. Truly the world needs a more Christ- 
like remedy than Christians in general administer." 

" With reference to the subjects we discussed in 
that memorable moonlight walk," she writes to the 
same friend on October 31, " my mind is compara- 
tively at rest. I have resolved, by God's help, to 
weave my web of life as best I can out of the mate- 
rials around me. I have had some weeks of rich 
enjoyment both intellectually and spiritually. I have 
been living in a higher atmosphere than heretofore. 
My time has been fully employed, indeed crowded 
with work. I cannot tell you about my reading, only 
just to mention the books : second volume of Chan- 
ning, ' The Eclipse of Faith,' Kingsley's ' Village Ser- 
mons ' and his ' Phsethon,' David Thomas's l Crisis of 
Being,' and the ' Progress of Being.' The last two I 



238 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

should very much like you to see. You would be 
delighted with them. Mr. Thomas is editor of the 
1 Homilist,' a few numbers only of which I have seen. 
It appears a valuable periodical. 

" I am to go to Howden soon, but I will come back 
by way of Leeds, if only for a night. In the mean 
time, my friend, let us try to be living for a high and 
holy purpose. I feel increasingly, I think, the little- 
ness of everything earthly, except as it is connected 
with the future. I do not care to form another friend- 
ship ; would not, indeed, if I could not confidently 
look to its perfecting in heaven. 5 ' She had commu- 
nicated the formation of a valuable literary acquaint- 
ance with Mr. W ~t. The biographer has been 

favored with some letters addressed to him, which 
will be read with deep interest. 

She proceeds : " I am reading Luke's Gospel with 
care. What abundant internal evidence of authenticity 
it contains, and how strikingly evident is the superior 
education and medical knowledge of 4 the beloved 
Physician !' I have been deeply impressed with the 
remarkable beauty of that narrative of the woman 
who came and washed the Saviour's feet with her 
tears. How startled must that proud Pharisee have 
been by the Saviour's address, ' Simon, I have some- 
what to say unto thee,' and the revelation of his secret 
thoughts ! I find the Scriptures to be an increasing 
treasure, ' a well-spring of deep gladness,' I regret 
deeply that I have hitherto read them in such a des- 
ultory manner. 5 ' 

Some appropriate and excellent counsels were ad- 
dressed to Mr, F, on November 9 s " Many thanks for 



13C5 J SPIRITUAL GROWTH PROMOTED. 239 

your letter. I thank you especially for the confi- 
dence you have reposed in me, and the freedom with 
wlleh you have communicated your views and feel- 
ings on religious matters. Mental conflicts are, as 
you suppose, by no means uncommon to young 
Christians. There is a great propensity in human 
nature to seek in itself what can be found only out of 
itself. I mean that a renewed heart is apt to look 
into itself for consolation and comfort when it should 
be looking to Christ. It is by constant and steady 
looking to Christ that we are to be i changed into the 
same image.' I am quite aw^are of the duty of self- 
examination, but I am also aware that Satan employs 
its practice to gain an advantage over us. I have 
sometimes felt a sort of bitter pleasure in searching 
for secret sins and deficiencies, and have at length 
discovered that this was diverting my attention from 
Christ, by looking to whom alone I could be delivered 
from these evils. 

" O my dear friend, you have entered upon a war- 
fare ; but fear not, it is a glorious warfare. You will 
gain strength in the conflict. Your moral nature will 
have its true and proper development, and many an 
oasis will spring up in the desert to gladden your 
heart and refresh your eyes. But what I want es- 
pecially to impress both upon your mind and my own, 
is the necessity of 'looking unto Jesus' as the source 
of spiritual blessings, as 'the author and finisher of 
our faith,' and as our exemplar. In this last character 
we cannot study him too closely. 

" I rejoice to know that on many points our views 
are consonant, and I am sure you will indorse the 



240 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

sentiment I am about to pen, that the highest object 
of our religion is not to endow us with the rewards 
of heaven, but to assimilate us to the divine. How is 
this assimilating process to be carried on and com- 
pleted ? Simply by ' looking unto Jesus.' You find 
this difficult, you say, especially when you feel that 
you have most need to practice it. I know the diffi- 
culty. It is one thing to think of Jesus, and another 
to look to him so as to realize him as a present 
Saviour. But then we have a resource. Prayer 
always secures his attention and help. That fervent 
' Lord, help me !' was never uttered sincerely in vain. 

"Will you join me in the study of the life of 
Christ as narrated by the evangelists ? I think we 
should find it profitable to exchange our thoughts. It 
would be well to read with the special view of im- 
pressing upon our hearts those features of his character 
we are called to imitate ; and in how many of the rela- 
tionships of domestic and social life does he present 
a noble and perfect copy for our imitation ! I am 
reading Luke first, and enjoying the Gospel very much. 

" I will give you a brief extract from Coleridge's 
'Aids to Reflection.' You may apply it to spiritual 
as well as intellectual pursuits : 'All things strive to 
ascend, and ascend in the striving. And shall man 
alone stoop 1 Shall his pursuits and desires, the 
reflections of his inner life, be like a reflected image 
of a tree on the edge of a pool, which grows down- 
ward, and seeks a mock heaven in the unstable element 
beneath it, in neighborhood with the slimy water, 
weeds, and oozy bottom-grass that are better than 
itself and more noble, in as far as substances that 



1855.] A GLORIOUS SCENE. 241 

appear as shadows are preferable to shadows mistaken 
for substances V No ; it must be a higher good to 
make you happy. While you labor for anything 
below your proper humanity you seek a happy life in 
the region of death. Well saith the moral poet : 

' Unless above himself he can 
Erect himself, how mean a thing is man !' " 

In a glowing strain she writes to Miss S. R. on 
Nov. 26 : "I have just turned slowly and reluctantly 
from a gorgeous scene. The rising moon ' in full 
orbed glory ' emerging from a pavilion of w T hite 
fleecy clouds, to enthrone herself amid the splendors 
of the star-galaxies. And those stars ! How they 
stir my spirit to its profoundest depths ! What are 
they ? For what purpose were they created ? Do 
our loved ones, who have gone before, dwell among 
them ? Do the footsteps of angels echo there ? O 
for a glimpse into their lofty mysteries ! Thought 
flutters its wings and vainly beats the walls of its 
prison-house, seeking to burst forth and explore the 
mystery, and then like a long-struggling captive bird 
folds its weary wing and sinks to rest. But O ! - ye 
bright mosaics on the floor of heaven,' I — a child of 
earth, in sisterhood with the clods of the valley — I 
shall live 'glorious and glad and free' when your 
fires have waned and gone out ; shall live to explore 
your mysteries, to read the wondrous tale of your 
creation and accomplished destiny millenniums after 
you have finished your appointed course ! 

"The universe! Eternity! Ourselves the deni- 
zens of both ! O my friend, what a glorious gift is 



242 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

that of being — immortal being ! Strange thoughts 
have been stirred within me to-night. In one I have 
exulted. I cannot by any possibility cease to exist. 
The eternity to come is mine by inalienable birth- 
right. I have said to my fluttering yearning spirit : 
Be patient ; the future is thine. Thy inheritance is 
mighty, unspeakable. But thou must prepare for its 
possession. The realizations there are dependent 
upon what is accomplished in thee and by thee here. 
Let the contemplation of that kingdom of which thou 
art surely the heir, issue in something better than 
mere childish longings for its possession. Thou hast 
noble work before thee. Thou art called to write 
upon the tablets of time the proofs of thy fitness to 
enter upon thy higher regal destiny. This and an- 
other assembled world will be called upon to read the 
record. Perhaps more worlds than these. See thou 
write it well ! " 

" Build thy great acts high and higher, build theui on the con- 
quered sod, 

Where thy weakness first fell bleeding, and thy first prayer rose 
to God." 

" What a wonderful elasticity there is in the human 
mind," she wrote to her cousin, who had returned to 
Howden after spending five happy weeks at Boston 
Spa, " and what a blessed faculty of adapting our- 
selves to the changing events and circumstances of 
life ! Your leaving me was really a dreaded event. 
You don't know how much pain the anticipation cost 
me. No sooner were you gone, however, than I turn- 
ed hopefully and cheerfully to the future, and began 
to inquire what duties lay before me. Work is a 



1855.] A VALUED MESSAGE. 243 

blessed relief. Our mental and physical organization 
are alike benefited by it." 

To Mr. W 1 she writes on Dec. 1 : " It is not 

to every friend I should deem it worth while com- 
municating the little scrap of mental history to which 
it has just struck my fancy to treat (?) you. Some 
months ago I became greatly interested in the question 
of the relative merits of Congregationalism and Meth- 
odism. I was thrown much into the society of minis- 
ters where Methodist polity was freely discussed. I 
need not trouble you with details. My mind was a 
good deal disturbed, so much so that it proved a rath-* 
er serious interruption to my studies. You remem- 
ber the first evening you took tea here. On the fol- 
lowing one my friend Miss S. R. and I paced the 
lanes for hours, in the.glorious moonlight, discussing 
these important matters. I smile at our earnestness 
and enthusiasm now as I think of it. Well, after 
some weeks more of mental disquietude, which I do 
not now regret, for the discipline was salutary, I be- 
gan Cariyle's i Past and Present.' I did not for some 
time relish it much. But now I feel under almost 
infinite obligation to him and it. 

" I know you are wondering what the sequel of this 
strange story may be. The present issue is for me a 
very happy one, I assure you. Carlyle seemed in that 
book to have a message for me, and it ran something 
like this : ; Leave this question of religion, and the 
forms of it, of which, to say truth, in these unspeak- 
able days it is chiefly profitable to keep silence. Thou 
needest no new religion ; no, nor any new form of it. 
Thou hast already more of both than thou makest use 
16 



24:4: MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

of. This day thou knowest ten commanded duties, 
seest in thy mind ten things which should be done, for 
one that thou doest. Do one of them, and this of it- 
self will teach thee that the rest are doable. Know 
that religion is no Morison's Pill from without, but a 
reawakening of thine own self from within. Find 
thy work and do it ; thou wilt then find true blessed- 
ness. O ! my sister, is there no thistle in thy path 
which thou canst dig up, so that a blade of grass or 
corn may grow there instead ? Look around thee. 
Seest thou not a noble army of workers — heaven's 
aristocracy — with a divine patent of nobility 1 Thou 
too so needed in the host ! It were so blessed, thrice 
blessed for thyself, to be one of them. Come, my 
sister, perchance thou mayest make one little nook of 
earth a little fruitfuller, better, more worthy of God. 
Thou mayest make some human hearts a little wiser, 
happier, more blessed, less accursed. Bethink thy- 
self. Thou art so needed in the host.' 

" This is the substance of that message which seemed 
to ring through the chambers of my soul. It was 
for me a reawakening of my whole nature. I resum- 
ed the work I had given up most cowardly. I did 
one thing. I found another and another doable. I 
found my work, and with it blessedness. I need not 
tell you that these previously all-absorbing questions 
dwindled into mere specks on the rim of my mental 
horizon. I do not say boastingly, but thankfullv, 
that lately I have worked hard. I have endeavor- 
ed fairly to test the theory, the truth of which I never 
really doubted, and I pronounce it to be i no inane 
iatuity.' 



1855.] THOMAS CARLYLE. 245 

On Dec. 3 she writes to the biographer : " I have 
just recollected that it is the time appointed for my 
writing to you, and I have laid aside the ; Eclipse of 
Faith,' to which 1 am giving a second reading, to .take 
up my pen. I need scarcely tell you I am deeply 
interested in it, and shall probably read it again, as 
that seems to be the orthodox number with all my 
friends 'who have read it. 

" My admiration of Carlyle increases, and now that I 
have read through his ' Past and Present,' and some por- 
tions of it many times, I am really disposed to place 
him much higher than I ever thought it possible I could. 
I have resolved never again to judge an author with- 
out reading him. I had formed a curious opinion of 
Carlyle, chiefly from what Gilfillan says about him. 
He pets and abuses, caresses and kicks him, with a 
waywardness which is both amusing and perplexing. 
I have read Carlyle's Johnson, and, much as I admire 
it, I am disposed to think some of the passages in 
' Past and Present ' will take higher rank. You are 
aware it is one of his earlier works, published thirteen 
years ago. I met with little that interested me in the 
first half of the book ; but ' The Modern Worker ' 
stirred my soul to its very depths. I cannot convey 
an adequate impression of the effect it had upon me. 
I have always believed in something like this, I said, 
as these earnest thoughts in their fire-clothed utter- 
ances rang through my soul; I will now test this 
theory of work fairly. And so turning to my desk I 
took out some unfinished manuscripts long ago dis- 
carded. I selected one and finished it. I had proved 
that thing ' doable,' and I attempted and did another. 



246 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

Visions of other 'doable' things rapidly presented 
themselves, and all the subjects lately perplexing me 
soon dwindled into mere specks. Class-meetings be- 
came more profitable when I could record purposes 
of higher action, moral conquest, and real progression, 
instead of telling of my happiness or misery. In fact 
I have found my happiness take better care of itself 
than I, by any direct effort, could ever take of it. 
And all this I owe to Carlyle, whom I have misjudged 
and feared. Still all you say of him may be very 
true. I fear, alas ! it is." 

If Miss Hess el derived great benefit from Carlyle, 
of course she did right to acknowledge it, and her 
biographer would not be justified in practicing con- 
cealment. No surprise need be experienced at the 
fact. Her powers had become so mature, and her 
knowledge of religious truth so extensive, that she was 
well able to sift the chaff from the wheat. To all 
persons similarly qualified he might be safely recom- 
mended. It is to those of strong susceptibility, but 
immature judgment, or but ill-versed in the teachings 
of the New Testament, that he proves injurious. And 
the injury is often great. His " never-pausing stream 
of thought with its rich freight of vivid imagery" trans- 
ports such readers. By partially exhibiting truth, and 
exhibiting it chiefly in its gloomy aspects, he gives 
grossly exaggerated and distorted impressions. His 
references to revelation are usually in a tone of une- 
quivocal disparagement. Discontent, therefore, misan- 
thropy, and even skepticism, are the natural result. 

Like other men of strong idiosyncracy, Carlyle has 
converted most of his acquaintances either into zealous 



1855.] THOMAS CARLYLE. 247 

panegyrist? or bitter detractors. An exaggerated es- 
timate is formed of him by some ; by others he is 
greatly underrated. Equity,- it appears to the writer, 
requires a medium estimate. His warmest admirers 
cannot justly deny that his style is often grotesque, 
and on first acquaintance repulsive ; that many of his 
passages are bombastic; that his denunciations of 
" shams," " wind-bags," " unveracities," and " inepti- 
tudes," and his exhortations to " be true," and " find 
out your work and do it," the staple material of his 
avowed teaching, are the repetition only of what the 
Great Teacher spake in language suited to the com- 
mon people — to whom Mr. Carlyle's books must ever 
be sealed ; and that his contemptuous designation of 
the Holy Scriptures as " old, worn-out Hebrew clothes " 
is as ungrateful as it is false and wicked, since he owes 
almost every valuable sentiment he utters to his early 
indoctrination into their truths. His impugners must 
at the same time acknowledge that he is characterized 
by freshness, force, suggestiveness, vividness, and 
grandeur. It is almost impossible for a person of 
ordinary intelligence and susceptibility to read some 
passages in his writings without admiration and won- 
der. His prodigality of thought and diction is often 
marvelous. He is unquestionably a power in the 
literary world — whether for good or evil depends on 
the discrimination of his reader. 

"I find I have plenty of work," she proceeds. 
" Never did I feel so much need of the divine admoni- 
tion, Watch and pray. I ought indeed to keep my 
heart ' with all diligence.' I find sin in such subtle 
and refined forms ready to enter at so many avenues, 



248 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1855. 

that my keenest vigilance is sometimes baffled. God 
is teaching me by these things my need of entire de- 
pendence on his grace. I am prone to trust to my 
own understanding. I do earnestly pant after holiness 
— Godlikeness. I could fill some sheets about these 
matters, which it would be a relief to my heart to un- 
bosom." 

" I don't feel well to-day," she writes to Mrs. W. 
on Dec. 9, after having stated that she had had a very 
animated discussion with a theological friend on the 
preceding evening. "I didn't sleep at all well. I 
had too much food for thought, and my poor brain 
could not rest. One subject we discussed intensely 
interested me : The powerful motives by which angels 
are established in their continuous allegiance to God. 
What must be the moral grandeur of that Being who 
holds such glorious free agents in undeviating loyalty 
to himself! We both agreed that were our intellect- 
ual powers more fully exercised on that moral glory, 
and our souls entirely smitten with its supreme love- 
liness, the doctrine of final perseverance would become 
a verity indeed." 

The consequences of transgression, as witnessed in 
the punishment of fallen angels, would doubtless prove 
a new and mighty barrier to further defection. Curi- 
osity as to the consequences, which probably contrib- 
uted in some degree to the result, was divested of its 
power for evil. This barrier would be strengthened 
by the punishment of fallen man. The multiplied and 
enormous evils resulting to our race here and here- 
after are perpetually augmenting its strength. It may 



1855.] EGOTISM CONDEMNED. 249 

be regarded as a moral impossibility for creatures 
possessing their knowledge and experience to become 
disloyal. There is now no motive to it of adequate 
force. 

" I have much to say to you about my religious ex- 
perience," she proceeds. " I never was busier, and 
never happier in my life. But for some time past I 
have had no temptations as of old. How is this ? Is 
the answer which always presents itself a sufficient 
one: 'Time well employed is Satan's deadliest foeV 
Or are my altered views ministering to a state of 
mind which he deems quite safe? I sometimes ask 
myself these questions, for the thing is a novelty in 
my experience." 

On the 27th she writes to her brother : " I have been 
spending nearly a week with Mr. and Mrs. W. The 
visit was very pleasant, quite refreshing to my spirit. 
Our evening conversations were most interesting. I 
went with Mrs. W. to visit several poor families. I 
wish I could emulate her noble and useful life. Such 
unconsciousness of self, such all-absorbing interest in 
her Master's work, I have rarely seen. It is this get- 
ting out of one's self that is so difficult. It is cursed 
egotism that makes me prefer contemplating even my 
own unfitness, un worthiness, etc., rather than the work 
that is before me, until its grandeur and importance 
absorb all my thoughts. How I hate it, but still it 
cleaves to me. I verily believe there is a great deal 
of selfishness and egotism which we call sensitiveness, 
refinement, and fifty other misnomers." 

Her belief was probably well-founded. Whether 
she was right in attributing her feeling to that cause 



250 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [185G. 

is doubtful. Not wishing to appear in the character 
of advocate, however, the biographer leaves his readers 
to form their own opinion on that point. Doubtless 
the reason why one person is absorbed in the work 
occupying attention, and another haunted and har- 
assed with thoughts of self is, in many cases, attrib- 
utable solely to a difference in the nervous system. 
Nervousness, however, may be extensively overcome. 
The spiritual in our nature is mysteriously endowed 
with a large dominion over the physical. A vivid 
sense of the presence of God causes that of man to 
be held of small account. The faith that enabled 
timid Moses to enter undaunted the presence of 
Egypt's haughty monarch and demand the emancipa- 
tion of his countrymen, will give vigor to the most 
timid Christians. By a similar faith, thousands " out 
of weakness have been made strong." 

Here we have a series of disclosures of her inner 
self. They are all instructive, and some of them in- 
dicate much self-knowledge. She writes in her 
Journal on January 4, 1856 : " In spite of my watch- 
fulness I feel my mind prone to, dwell too much upon 
itself. It is not by the contemplation of myself, by 
continual gazing into the depths of my own spirit, that 
I am to make true religious progress. What is the 
highest end of my being 1 Christlikeness. How 
shall I attain this ? ' By looking unto Jesus.' Look- 
ing, always looking, in the sunshine and in the storm, 
in the hour of my joy and in the hour of my trial, 
looking until I am changed into the same image. 

" I am still apt to measure my attainments by my 
enjoyments. It is a false test. What moral con- 



1856.] GLORYING IK TRIBULATION. 251 

quests have I achieved 1 What active virtues have I 
carefully exercised and cultivated ? In what degree is 
my whole nature brought into subjection to the obe- 
dience of Christ % Do I seek to purify myself because 
he is pure % The answer to these questions is the 
trua gauge of my spiritual state. 

" I can settle one question satisfactorily. I aim 
at glorifying God in all things. But I often fail. 
I often find myself thinking thus : I repressed 
that hasty word, I checked that uncharitable 
thought, I exhibited that moral heroism, and then 
pride creeps in. 

" I have learned within the last twelve months to 
understand more fully the meaning of the words con- 
flict and victory. I thank God for the need of strife. 
Victorious conflict elevates the noblest part of my 
nature. I have felt to glory in tribulation, to count 
the suffering all joy. If here I catch such glimpses 
of the value of a disciplinary process, what will be 
my gratitude when all its glorious results are enjoyed % 
To be c perfect through suffering !' Who can tell the 
blessedness of such perfection !" 

13th : " This has been in many respects a happy 
Sabbath. It has been a very laborious one. I have 
been twice to school. The girls were attentive this 
morning, and I had freedom in speaking to them. 
They begged so earnestly that I would teach them 
again in the afternoon that I could not refuse, as they 
had no teacher. I was able to speak freely and point- 
edly to one or two of them on the love of Jesus, and 
his claims on their love and service. The starting 
tear and the eager attitude attested their interest. I 



252 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

have felt happier in this work to-day than I have ever 
done before. 

" How I have dreaded being thrust into any prom- 
inent position in the Church ! There has been a 
shrinking from publicity there the intensity of which 
those of my friends who know me best would hardly 
credit. During the week I have been forced into the 
office of secretary for a bazar to be got up by May. 
I did not feel myself called to this, and strenuously 
opposed it. My opposition was overruled, however. 
I had arranged some studies which I deemed impera- 
tive, and some visits which will be disarranged ; but 
strange to say, I now feel thankful I have accepted the 
work. I dread the thought of what my feelings 
would have been had I obstinately refused, and yet I 
fear I am not equal to the post. But I must method- 
ize my labor. I must do one thing at once, and each 
for God's glory, with a direct reference to him. I 
must pray daily and many times a day for strength 
to perform the duties aright." 

The shadow of a deeply mournful event was pro- 
jected across Miss Hessel's path in the early part of 
1856. Her much-loved cousin at Howden developed 
symptoms of a rapid consumption. In reply to a 
communication from Mr. F. she writes : " The intel- 
ligence respecting Mary was a great shock to us. I 
did not apprehend anything so alarming as her pres- 
ent state. I feel that to address you in the poor com- 
mon words of courtesy would be a ' very mockery 
of your grief.' God comfort you, my friend, for he 
alone can, in this your saddest, bitterest trial. It is 



1856.] GOD'S DESIGN IN AFFLICTING. 253 

needless, and would be selfish of me to speak now of 
my own sorrow. You know how I love my precious 
cousin. How much deeper, more tender, and sacred 
our attachment has been of late ! But God designs to 
draw us closer to himself by these things. If he takes 
our priceless gems to set them in his own crown, he 
intends that they shall attract our faith and love to 
that place which is our truest home. He knew 
human nature well who said, ' Where your treasure 
is there will your heart be also.' There are moments 
— I wonder if you realize them as I do — when my spirit 
views this painful dispensation from such an elevated 
point that I see it to be entirely the best for dearest 
Mary, when the present 'light afflictions,' and the 
future ' far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory' seem to have a light from the throne of God 
shed upon them, and I can say : ' It is all right. 
What can it matter % This little struggle of life will 
soon be over with us. God is garnering up our 
treasures in heaven to await our coming. He does, 
not snap affection's chain. He is but drawing another 
link out of our sight ; burnishing and lengthening the 
chain whose first and last links center in his throne.' 
O that your faith and mine could sustain this eleva- 
tion ! But alas ! mine too often droops her wing, and 
the sad realities of the present life come upon me 
with overwhelming force. 

" I feel thankful for the comparatively subdued tone 
of your letter. O my friend, let us strive earnestly 
to derive all the benefit from this bitter trial which 
our wise and loving Father designs. To be purified 
by suffering is one of the highest privileges of the 



254: MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

children of God. Not all the followers of Christ are 
called to fellowship with him in suffering in the same 
degree. The deeper our affliction, the closer it is 
designed to draw us to Him of whom it is said, * That 
in all our affliction he is afflicted.' Let us try to 
realize these additional bonds of union to him whose 
veritable humanity has made him our loving brother 
as w^ell as our all-powerful Saviour. 

" Do not think, my dear friend, that I lack sym- 
pathy. You would not if you could read my heart, 
and knew with what intensity of feeling I have prayed 
that the pitying Redeemer w^ould sustain you under 
this heavy blow. But I should like if possible to lead 
you to those heights which I have been struggling to 
reach, to look beyond that future which you say is 
' indeed dark,' to that other future a little beyond, and 
but a little, where it is all bright; where reunited 
hearts are never severed ; w T here there is no sin, and 
consequently no sorrow, and where affection can antic- 
ipate no adverse changes. 

" Our beloved Mary has lived for a noble purpose. 
Her brief life has been marked by that blessedness 
which is 'twice blessed,' and her removal may prove 
the seed of yet more abundant blessing. I cannot tell 
you how anxious I am to see her. 

To Mr. W 1 she thus eloquently writes on Feb. 

14: "Thanks for your letter. It came at a time 
when I needed sympathy. Since then dear Polly has 
rallied considerably, or we should now have been at 
Howden. Another medical man has been called in, 
who has given a shadow of hope to her anxious 



1856.] HOPE FOR A FRIEND. 255 

friends. I fear it is but a shadow. But it is wonder- 
ful on what a slender fragment of hope the heart will 
lean in such a case. I find myself clinging to it with 
a tenacity which sometimes quite startles me, and al- 
ready visions of returning health for our beloved one 
crowd my fancy, She is so very dear to me — dearer 
than ties of consanguinity could make her. We had 
been much together in childhood. She was left an 
orphan in infancy, and adopted by my aunt and uncle 
Campbell, and was the little companion of my 
brother John in his long visits to Howden — the 
little Mary whom he mentions in his letters. These 
things, and her own intrinsic worth and gentle 
piety, have made her very dear to me, especially of 
late years. 

" It seems selfish to mourn the early departure of 
those whom the Great Father has been making meet 
to dwell in his presence, and I have been trying to 
realize the thought lately that he burnishes our jewels, 
and sets them in his crown, that our thoughts and 
affections may more frequently and continuously rise 
to him. If heaven is continually attracting to itself 
the beautiful and the good, is it not that our hearts, 
whose treasures they were, should be allured heaven- 
ward, as well as that they should be safely garnered 
where the spoiler enters not ? 

" Thanks for your little scrap of mental autobiog- 
raphy. The history of mind is very interesting to 
me. I pondered over it long and somewhat sadly. 
It suggested thoughts of poor John Sterling which I 
cannot now embody in language. Seriously I do 
think that the gift of mind — your class of mind I 



256 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

mean — is a fearful and perilous thing. I know a little 
of those labyrinths of darkness which you describe. 
Precisely the same subjects may not have occupied me, 
but I think similar ones have. I have a vivid remi- 
niscence of pacing the long garden walks of my old 
childhood's home in the cold moonlight, revolving 
questions from whose fearful magnitude a girl of six- 
teen might well have shrank. I remember sitting 
down on the ground, and, clasping my hands, uttering 
in a voice, the deep passionate earnestness of which 
startled me: 'I would gladly die this moment to 
solve that problem.' In later years I have repeated 
again and again these incidents of my mental history, 
but the racking thought has terminated in something 
better than a cold, chilling sense of my own impo- 
tence and ignorance. It has generally ended in a 
feeling of exultation of which this is the expression : 
Be still, my soul ! Fold thy fluttering, wearied wing, 
which has beat too long the bars of thy prison-house ! 
Be patient ! Knowest thou not that the breath of 
Omnipotence, which made thee a living soul, made 
thee also immortal ? Of this thy lofty birthright, no 
man, nor fiend, nor high angel can rob thee. Thou 
art a denizen of the universe, and belongest to God's 
eternity. Progression in knowledge is as much thy 
birthright as immortality. And when this little term 
of infanthood has expired, and thou art unwrapt from 
the swaddling bands of thy fallen nature, and received 
into the communion of spirits made perfect, thou 
shalt read off the grand hieroglyphics of nature and 
revelation over which thou hast pondered so long and 
fruitlessly here. The highest intelligences of the uni- 



1856.] ARK OF SAFETY. 257 

verse shall give tribute to thy mental stores. Thou 
shalt press nearer and nearer through eternity to the 
steps of His throne from which all knowledge flows, 
and shalt drink from the fountain of all wisdom such 
draughts as thy infant capabilities could not now re- 
ceive. Mourn not thy impotence, father rejoice in 
the grandeur of thy destiny. Thy manhood shall 
dawn to-morrow, and its powers shall be developing, 
expanding, and filling forever. Be patient a little 
while, thou hast a noble heritage. 

"I know not whether you could thus calm the fever- 
ed throbbings of your soul when all its powers have 
been wrought up to the highest possible tension, and 
there has been that fearful recoil which leaves such a 
restless, wild, helpless yearning for a resting-place for 
the sole of your foot ; when, like Noah's dove, you 
have found none amid all the dreary waste of surging 
waters across which your mental pinions have failed 
to bear you. Let us thank God in such an hour of 
soul-darkness for that one ark of safety — for that 
'life and immortality brought to light through the 
Gospel.' Is it not sweet to anchor there % To find 
one immovable rock beneath your feet when you have 
proved so much to be shifting sand ? 

" I heartily indorse the closing sentiment of your 
paragraph on this subject. Ah ! Faith walks free and 
unreproved in lofty temples, through whose portals 
Reason cannot enter. With what eagerness we set 
out in search of truth— newer crusaders for the 
Holy Land ! But, alas ! we often take forbidden 
paths, and then a cold, dreary night closes around us, 
and 



258 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA I1ESSEL. [1S56. 

' We find we are alone upon the sands, 

Far from all human aids and sympathies ; 

While the black tide comes roaring up the waste.' 

" Once more the sad, sorrowful vision of John 
Sterling's death-bed rises before me. c Hitherto but 
no further ' is inj^ribed on many a gateway at which 
reason knocks. But faith and love meet no such bar- 
riers. i Works of faith and labors of love !' Truly 
you have the right key, the only true remedy for 
that noble ' disease ' of which you speak. Use it with 
an unsparing hand as He did who went about doing 
good, and who, though he might have reveled in the 
retrospection of that glory which he had left, and fed 
his mind on the grand truths whose fragmentary 
glimpses sometimes awaken and absorb our souls, yet 
was oftenest found by the shores of Galilee's lake and 
in the cottage at Bethany, teaching to the common 
people the simple Gospel of their salvation. May 
that future which lies before you be calm and bright 
with the radiance of humble faith, holy love, and good 
works ! It will be a peaceful calm indeed after such 
a storm. 

"But it is approaching the 'witching hour of night,' 
and my brain has been muddy ever since I began 
writing. I have such a press of engagements now 
that I have to steal time for writing. 

"It is rather refreshing to hear of 'falsehood run- 
ning mad.' She so often walks with trim decorous 
mien on that debatable ground which lies between 
her own territories and those of truth, and flits about 
on the border-land of both, that one is puzzled what 
to make of the witch — at one time a most saintlike 



1856.] RESIGNATION. 259 

personage ; at another, a very fairy with all sorts of 
elfin tricks." 



Various causes had delayed her visit to Howden. 
On the 21st of February, however, she reached the 
bedside of the dying relative. On the 27th she 
wrote to Miss N. : " Dear Polly has been telling me 
this afternoon that she is quite willing to die. She 
leaves herself in God's hands and knows it will be all 
right. ' Nobody could have a stronger desire to live 
than I had,' she said, ' when I first began to be poorly. 
O how I prayed that God would spare my life ! I 
did this for hours in that little bedroom at your 
house ; and when I walked out in the lanes I used to 
be praying earnestly that God would be pleased to 
spare me to those I loved, and who loved me so 
dearly.' I had some difficulty in keeping down my 
feelings. The picture of such a young, fair creature 
pleading earnestly with a loving Father for the con- 
tinuance of a gift which in wisdom and love he saw 
fit to resume, almost overpowered me." 

On March 12 she reports to Miss B. G. : " Our 
beloved invalid still lingers. She is worn almost to 
a skeleton. She has entirely lost her voice." On 
the 17th the youthful sufferer was released. A few 
days after the sad event Miss Hessel writes to Mrs. 
W. : " On Sunday week, the day before her death, 
my beloved cousin, though very weak, seemed some- 
what better. She was dressed and laid on the bed to 
receive the Lord's Supper with a few friends. She 
looked very lovely, and was calm and unmoved 
while every one around her was bathed in tears. Mr. 
17 



260 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

Kichards's voice faltered as he referred to her who 
would drink no more of that cup until she drank it 
new in her Father's kingdom with that loving Sa- 
viour in remembrance of whose passion we then par- 
took of it But dear Mary had done with tears. 
That night we undressed her for the last time. Just 
before doing so she requested to see two gentlemen 
who had called to inquire after her. She spoke to 
both about religion, got them to promise to read 
their Bibles every day and to become Sunday-school 
teachers. The following day, about two o'clock, she 
began to experience difficulty in breathing. At a 
quarter past seven the gentle sufferer was at rest on 
the bosom of her God. Poor Mr. F. ! I leave you 
to imagine the wreck and desolation of a heart which 
had poured all its treasures on the fair, silent sleeper 
over whom he bent in that strong agony which cannot 
be controlled. 

" On Friday we followed the dear remains to 
their last resting-place. The streets were lined 
with crowds of people. The Sunday-school girls 
followed dressed in white, and never perhaps was 
one so gentle and retiring so universally and deeply 
mourned. 

" My health has suffered of late. I am the confi- 
dant of sorrows which I have no power to alleviate. 
1 have wandered this afternoon to dear Mary's rest- 
ing place, and how I have envied her peacefu], happy 
lot. Why was not I taken instead? In the wild 
agony of my sorrow, when £ heard from her how she 
had prayed long and agonizingly that her life might 
be spared, I came to the mercy-seat and offered that 



1856.] SORROW FOR HER FRIEND. 261 

my life might ransom hers. But it could not be. 
The prayer was rejected. 

" I have taken fresh dedication vows upon myself. 
As I knelt by her coffin I offered myself once more 
to God, to do with me what he saw fit, to teach 
me how to live, that like her I might know how to 
die." 

In three or four days after her stricken heart pours 
forth its emotions to her sister-in-law : " My mind I 
fear is too apt to dwell on the gloomy side of things. 
I feel that a dark shadow has fallen upon my path. 
All bright and lovely things now seem to me fading 
and liable to decay beyond what they ever did be- 
fore. The sense of my loss deepens almost daily. I 
think I never before realized the meaning of the 
words, C I have lost a friend.' Mary had been for 
some time past increasingly dear to us all. Her 
purely unselfish nature had won all hearts. Earely 
has Christian character been so sweetly and rapidly 
developed. She is enshrined in my memory as the 
fairest incarnation of a gentle, loving, high-minded 
woman I have ever known." 

Miss Hessel's health received a blow on this occa- 
sion from which it never fully rallied. Her by- 
gone apprehensions of a premature grave were natu- 
rally reawakened. She had a premonition at Mary's 
grave, she subsequently states, that she should soon 
follow her. 

After remaining a few more days at Howden she 
wisely proceeded to spend a brief period with her 
friend at Leeds. On reaching that town she found 
herself amid scenes utterly out of harmony with her 



262 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

state of heart. It was the day of public rejoicing for 
the capture of Sebastopol. " I had upon the whole a 
pleasant journey," she writes to Mr. F. " 1 felt sad, 
and especially so when 1 got to Leeds, and found my- 
self among the rushing crowds of people, and beheld 
the hundreds of gay flags streaming from every tower 
and from all the shops in Briggate. A gay sight in- 
deed it was ; but I walked amid it all with a deep, 
deep shadow on my heart. 

" And what cared all these people for your sorrow 
and mine'? The one great event around which all 
our thoughts center, and which possesses for us such 
sad importance, was unknown and unheeded here. 
One feels one's own insignificance amid such scenes. 
But I must not write in this strain. I was forgetting 
that I ought to cheer you, who have so much more 
need of comfort than even myself. 

" I wonder how you are getting on. My heart will 
ever and anon turn to the scenes of the past fortnight, 
and to that dear hallowed mound in the church-yard 
where I knelt last night, and under the shadow of the 
solemn stars, with my hand on that precious grave, re- 
newed my dedication vows and prayed that the gen- 
tle spirit of the departed might fall on me — -that I 
might strive earnestly to emulate her patient, loving, 
and yet active piety." 

On April 2 she writes to the biographer from 
Leeds : " I have not been at all well lately. This 
lovely weather and this charming spot, however, seem 
to bring life and health to me, and I hope soon to be 
well. My spirits are not good, A deep shadow is 



1856.] VISIT ANTICIPATED. 263 

on my heart, and I feel an indifference to all things 
around me which I cannot shake off. Even the ar- 
rangements I am now making for my visit to you 
seem unreal. You will not, I am sure, think me 
wanting in regard for yourself and dear Mrs. P. when 
I say that much of the enjoyment with which I looked 
forward to*my visit has been lost in that i valley of 
the shadow of death' in which I have lately been 
walking with that beloved one who has passed 
through it. I ought not to mourn, because for her 
there is no more cause for sorrow. The faded flower 
is blossoming anew in the paradise of God. Her 
beautiful life was crowned by a gentle, beautiful 
death. 

" Present my love and best thanks to Mrs. P. for 
her kind arrangements for my visit. Tell her I shall 
expect to glide into your circle without creating any 
disturbance in your regular plans ; that I shall be 
amenable to all your household regulations, and ex- 
pect to help her, and e be treated as one of the family,' as 
the governess advertisements say. I am rather afraid 
she does not quite understand me. Pray assure her 
that I am a very domestic homely sort of body, really 
wishful to make myself generally useful." This was 
simple truth, however much it may wear the garb of 
affectation. 

" I had such a delightful letter from Mrs. this 

morning," she writes to Miss B. G. " She seems to 
have thrown all her morbid sentiment to the winds, 
and to look upon life now as a precious gift to be im- 
proved. She has at last found the true solution to 



264 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

the problem of human happiness — work. She says 
she has begun collecting for the Bible Society, and in 
a very short time has got subscriptions for and sold 
seventy Bibles and Testaments. The people are 
astonished at her success. This work has opened the 
way for other spheres of usefulness among the poor, 
and to this she has had to devote several hours of 
two or three days in the week. The whole tone of 
her letter is as refreshing as a spring breeze." 

Let all to whom life is a dull monotony reperuse 
this passage and ponder it well. Those whom sick- 
ness or decrepitude may prevent from going to do 
likewise, will find that inquiry into the wants and 
woes of human kind, and effort to stimulate others to 
alleviate them, will give brightness to many dull 
hours. 

" What are we sent on earth for ? Say, to toil ; 
Nor seek to leave the tending of thy vines 
Eor all the heat of day till it declines, 
And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil." 

On April 5 she writes to Mr. F. : " Thank you for 
your beautiful letter. Your sorrow is a sacred thing 
in my eyes ; never fear to confide it to me. I sym- 
pathize with all its phases, except indeed in that feel- 
ing that possibly now her holy, glorified spirit may 
look with wonder on its earthly love and deem it un- 
worthy. No ! whatever of worth she loved in you 
here she loves forever ; loves with a nobler love than 
that of earth. I cannot but think that even now some 
fond emotion will be stirred at the memory of that 
human passion which struggled after, and aspired in 
its unfoldings to the divine. Surely we dream of 



1856.] RECOVERY OF SPIRITS. 265 

heaven too much as a metamorphosis of our whole 
nature ! My own mind has been somewhat saddened, 
it is true, in the vain effort to realize the mode of her 
present being, her employments, the nature of her 
intercourse with the highest intelligences of the uni- 
verse. Let the thought comfort us that whatever 
changes we experience her love cannot change." 

A sentiment uttered by her cousin, and worthy of 
being deeply pondered by the gay and busy, is com- 
municated to Mrs. W. on May 8 : "I often think of 
dear Polly's remark, made in her earnest whisper, 
with that expression in her eye which gave such force 
to her utterances : ' I never could have believed that 
life, and all it contains, would have assumed the 
aspect to my mind it has done since I have been laid 
aside in a sick room. 5 Ought we not to gird on our 
armor afresh, and faint not in the strife, seeing we 
have but the day wherein to work, and that day so 
brief and uncertain V 9 

Her spirits happily now began to recover some- 
thing of their former tone. On the 13th she writes 
to Mrs. P. after having stated her proposed arrange- 
ments for her visit : " With you I think that put-off 
visits, like put-off weddings, are very dubious things. 
My present purpose, however, is to cheat the goddess 
who presides over such matters, and present myself 
at Congleton Station for your further disposal next 
Tuesday evening, unless your domestic divinity, or 
some other untoward event forbid." On that day our 
habitation received such an accession to its hearth- 
joys as a visitor has rarely furnished. 

Through the kindness of Mr. F., whom business 



266 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

called to Manchester, she had a peep into life, on her 
way to Congleton, under a phase entirely new. In- 
struction was* derived as well as curiosity gratified. 
She wrote to him next day : " I have enjoyed what I 
saw in Manchester yesterday more to-day than I did 
at the time perhaps. Various reflections have been 
suggested by the remembrance which I value. I saw 
some phases of life which were quite new to me, and 
you would smile perhaps were I to mention them. 
They related to strangers. But I read another page 
of your character as you walked with your memoran- 
dum book dotting down that, and crossing out the 
other, and tossing over your quick-made purchases. 
What compound beings we are ! What a contrast 
often between our outward and inner life ! Well, a 
day in Manchester warehouses is a very edifying 
thing in its way, and I thank you for the lessons sug- 
gested. They may have their uses some day." 

Of Congleton, after a brief inspection, she says : 
"The surrounding scenery is beautiful. The town 
clean and rather pretty. The suburbs especially so, 
for it abounds in villas and large quiet-looking houses 
embowered with trees. Vegetation is considerably 
more advanced here than in our more northern lati- 
tude. 

" In my walk with Mrs. P. I had a long talk about 
Mary. How invariably anything beautiful in nature 
suggests to me thoughts of her, and often, alas ! these 
thoughts are associated with her living presence, and 
the fact that she is no more is for the time entirely 
forgotten. Then the truth flashes upon me with start- 
ling freshness. Do you ever feel this? Perhaps 



1856.1 DR. KITTO'S LIFE. 267 

not ; for to you the consciousness of her loss must be 
more constantly present. 

" I feel impressed to-day with a sense of the insig- 
nificance of all the appendages of life as compared 
with its one great object — spending it for God's glory 
and the benefit of our fellow-beings. Dr. Kitto — an 
epitome of whose life I have to-day been reading — 
has left this impression on my mind. What a noble 
work he pursued under peculiar disadvantages !" 
• " I read a review of Dr. Kitto's life in ' The Eclec- 
tic' yesterday," she writes to Miss S. E. on the 22d. 
"What a tale of thrilling interest it must be! A 
workhouse lad, totally deaf, and of course with im- 
perfect speech, disappointed, or rather betrayed in a 
most passionate attachment by a faithless lady, and 
finally married to a gem of a woman, who was thrown 
upon his sympathy and kindness when suffering from 
the bereavement of her affianced husband. Her path 
seems to have been a difficult and blessed one. She 
was never absent from his side for ten hours together 
during all their wedded life. Yet she ransacked li- 
braries for him, and labored to advance his works with 
all her might. Of their union she beautifully says : 
4 I prayed that God who had chosen my difficult path 
would enable me rightly to walk in it.' " 

Who of us, holding opinions to which we attach 
importance, may not ponder beneficially the sentiment 

she transmits to Mr. W 1 on May 26 : " In my 

earnest condemnation of bigotry I have sometimes 
felt myself indulging in un charitableness of spirit. 
The verv same bitterness mav mark my condemna- 



268 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

tion of bigotry which marks the bigot I condemn. I 
say not this, believe me, with any reference to your 
letter. I speak only of myself. I have deeply felt 
since I came here how far I have erred in this respect." 

Though written some years previously, the follow- 
ing was furnished to the public during this spring: 



THE LEPER. 

" Woe, woe is me ! far from the abodes of men, 
And far from spot by human footsteps trod, 

And far from all that's reached by human ken, 
Erom kindred, home, all but the curse of God, 

I flee ; a leper — shunned, abhorred, and scorned, 

A thing forgotten, or but lightly mourned. 

" I thirst, I burn ; no hand may give me drink, 
Nor with the cooling waters lave my brow ; 

An outcast vile, from those — from all — I shrink, 
Whose voice might soothe, whose hand relief bestow. 

In the low depths of my own black despair 

My cry of misery doth but echo there. 

" The past comes o'er me like a troubled dream, 
And memory to my torture lends her aid ; 

That past, nor sighs, nor tears can e'er redeem, 
Or cause it from my aching heart to fade. 

One vision haunts and fires my madden'd brain, 

The wife — the babes I ne'er may see again. 

" One voice is with me now ! Her gentle tone 
And beaming eye, and smile whose sweetness spoke 

Of woman's earnest, trusting love, alone — 
So pure, so fervent, so intense — it woke 

My soul to gladness, made me deem that joy 

So rich, was mine for aye, without alloy. 



1856.] THE LEPER. 269 

" Hark ! 'tis a footstep. Who approaches near 
To one who all companionship roust flee ? 

Haste, stranger, from the unclean ! Come thou not here ! 
The air a leper breathes is cursed to thee. 

It is the scoffed, reviled — the Nazarene ! 

4 Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst bid me be clean 1' 

"Low at the Saviour's feet the outcast knelt; 

His eye in tenderest pity viewed him there : 
'Twas such he came to save. The scorned one felt 

Through his whole frame the answer to his prayer. 
He saw the Saviour look with love serene, 
And heard with joy, ' I will that thou be clean !' " 



270 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. T1856. 



CHAPTER X. 

Her Views on a Vital Christian Doctrine temporarily unsettled — 
The Benefit to be secured from the Little Things of Daily Life 

— Christian Liberty — The triple Nobility of Nature, Culture, 
and Faith — Importance of an Habitual Keeognition of God — 
John Sterling — Her Brother's Decision to embark for Australia 
— ■ Glimpses of the Grand Possibilities of our Being — Departure 
of her Brother — The Duty of cultivating a Thankful Spirit — 
The Privileges supplied by Trials — Emerson's English Traits 

— The Jehovah- Angel — American Writers of Fiction — Scanty 
Aids for Self-Improvement. 

They who would enjoy the sweets of repose must first 
experience the bitterness of toil. This is as true of 
the mind as the body. Miss Hessel's views had be- 
come unsettled on a doctrine she felt to be of vital 
importance and she was now therefore experiencing 
great solicitude. In a letter to Mr. W — t, she says : 
" I have had a floating intention for some time past of 
asking you for an elucidation of some points in a 
grand doctrine of Christianity which has somewhat 
perplexed me. I have been so fearful of being mis- 
understood if I asked any of my orthodox friends how 
they would meet such and such objections, that I have 
let my troubled thoughts heave and surge on while the 
mists gathered more thickly. Yesterday, in a conver- 
sation with Mr. P., the subject was drawn out of me. 
He answered my questions without expressing the 
slightest surprise, furnished me with his strongest 
arguments, and though he seemed instinctively to un- 



1856.] DR. CHAINING. 271 

derstand how far I had gone, uttered no word of re- 
proach, but said cordially, 'I am glad to find you 
inquiring into this subject; I have no doubt of the 
issue. We will talk about this another day, and you 
shall read Wardlaw's Discourses on the Socinian 
Controversy.' Such a feeling of restfulness came 
over me ! I dare say you can w r ell understand it. 
My spirit seemed to fold her weary pinions, and I 
said to myself, ' I am finding firm footing here. My 
feet are yet trembling on the rock, but they will stand 
fast by and by. I feel like the sailor so long accus- 
tomed to the rolling motion of his vessel that at first 
he staggers and reels on solid ground. You will 
guess where I have been wandering, and may-be won- 
der, but you will not harshly condemn ; and there- 
fore I do not fear to tell you some day what a skeptic 
I have been." 

This was the effect of reading Dr. Channing; and, 
unless she had previously given the subject a thorough 
investigation, the effect to be expected. Is she then 
to be accused of a presumptuous approach to danger % 
Another question will help us to determine this. Is 
it advisable to accept as true, without examination, 
whatever our teachers propound ? If those not grounded 
and settled in the faith are liable to be carried about 
with every wind of doctrine ; if an intelligent belief 
can result only from examination ; if truths can be 
propagated, in intelligent society, only by those who 
intelligently believe them, then the writer cannot pass 
sentence of condemnation. And is it not to furnish 
scope for mental invigoration, and stimulus to it, as 
well as to supply a moral test, that all truth is not 



272 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

made so luminous as to be indisputable'? Our per- 
sonal interests — self-preservation, self-satisfaction, and 
self-improvement — and the interests of our fellow- 
men, render inquiry imperative. Let humility, teach- 
ableness, earnest desire for truth, and fervent prayer 
to the Father of lights characterize the inquirer, and 
hope may banish fear as to the issue. The apostle 
Paul commended the Bereans, not for implicitly ac- 
cepting his declarations, but for searching the Scrip- 
tures daily to know whether those things were so. 
Had all inquirers been kindly and judiciously treated, 
there would have been far fewer skeptics. Does not 
a measure of responsibility for such a result attach to 
those who might have prevented it 1 It is grievously 
wrong, and exceedingly perilous, to frown upon those 
in search of satisfaction to an unsettled mind. 

Fortunately we have her own subsequent and ma- 
tured views as to the wisdom of having subjected her- 
self to this process. In a letter to a friend whose 
mind had been unsettled by Foster's observations on 
the duration of future punishment, she says : " I do 
not see that a 'suggested doubt 5 should have made 
you regret having read Foster on this point. The 
exercise of thinking out and settling the question for 
yourself might be of immense advantage to you. I 
went through a far more perilous process which ended 
only a few months ago. It was on the subject of 
Christ's divinity, and was occasioned by Dr. Channing. 
He is not considered the most powerful advocate of 
Socinianism, but I believe he is the most captivating 
one. He exhibits such an almost angelic goodness, 
and breathes such a spirit of Christlike love for even 



1856.] THE TRINITY. 273 

Iiis theological opponents, that I confess I think his 
theological writings highly dangerous for almost any 
class of youthful mind. Still, I have not bought too 
dearly the precious feeling of security which I now 
have in that doctrine. I never knew, until I searched, 
how the doctrine shines out from the pages of proph- 
ecy, as well as from the New Testament. I little im- 
agined what mighty reasons there were that the 
world's atonement could be none other than the Son 
of God — the equal of the Father — until I read some 
of the productions of profound and comprehensive 
minds on this subject." 

To Mrs. R s, in a letter without date, but which 

was evidently written about the time she was emerg- 
ing from these struggles, she says : " It is a terrible 
thing, though, this battling amid the darkness of finite 
ignorance with questions concerning the Infinite aud 
Eternal. How it shocks me to hear such questions 
summarily and dogmatically disposed of in the pul- 
pit, as I sometimes do, by men who have not the 
slightest conception of their awful grandeur ! I have 
heard it said that the Hindoo mind, with its keen, 
metaphysical subtlety, almost invariably stumbles at 
this doctrine of a Trinity, when it embraces Christian- 
ity. Can't you fancy St. Paul, with his penetrating 
mental eye, trying to bring this subject within the 
range of his vision, and when reason failed, faith tri- 
umphantly uttered the exclamation : ' Without con- 
troversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was 
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of 
angels. . . . received up into glory V 

"I resrjond most cordially to your expressions of 



274 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

hope that we may benefit each other by a correspond- 
ence. I value highly those ' little fragments of the 
soul,' as John Sterling calls letters, with which my 
friends favor me ; and I enjoy greatly the dumb, 
inarticulate pouring out of my own soul to those 
whose sympathies and pursuits are in unison with my 
own." 

To her brother, on the 9th of July, she writes : 
" You wish to know something of my visit to Congle- 
ton. It would take a day to tell all that interested 
and gratified me. I had some rich intellectual treats 
in conversation with Mr. and Mrs. P.; was treated 
with every possible kindness by everybody ; had 
long talks about dear John ; heard him described in 
some of the most interesting scenes of his private 
life ; read all his letters, and as much of his journal 
as I had time for, and became acquainted with the 
secret springs of action, the passions that moved him, 
and a thousand things about how he lived and loved 
and suffered, toiled and won mental and moral trophies 
of victory ; and in fact realized him as I had never 
done before. Poor John ! what a noble heart he had ! 
How it was disciplined and tried in its tenderest feel- 
ings ! Truly of him it might be said, that 

' Not for naught 
Had sorrow, suffering, love, and thought, 
Their long, still work of preparation wrought.' " 

In four or five weeks after her return to Boston 
Spa she utters noble sentiments in well-chosen words 
in a letter to Mrs. P. on July 15: "I seize the first 
opportunity of writing to you since the receipt of your 



1856.] THOUGHTS ON GENIALITY. 275 

unexpected and very welcome letter. We have been 
rather gay lately in the way of visiting and having 
company. Our party is now dispersing, so that in a 
day or two we expect to be quite alone, for the first 
time since I came from Congleton. We have had a 
very pleasant time of it. I had just been thinking of 
what it ought to yield. If, like a wandering bee, T 
have been sipping sweets from many a fair and sunlit 
flower, I ought, like that bee, to return laden with 
spoils, and in the quiet seclusion of my hive to make 
it into honey ; to turn, by reflection, the raw material 
hastily gathered and stored by wayside paths into 
something useful and noble. It seems to me the 
nicest point in the art of living well to be able to do 
this constantly, an alchemy worth ten thousand times 
more than that of the old philosophers. The longer I 
live the more am I impressed with the hidden value 
of these little things which make up the sum of daily 
life; their adaptation to aid in that process of self- 
education, mental, moral, and religious, which we 
ought to be conducting. How great our pervers= 
ity must be, since we so often not only fail to per- 
ceive their value and neglect the right use of them, 
but actually turn them to purposes of self-degra- 
dation. 

" Sometimes I get a glance into these things, as 
arranged by the wisdom and love of the great Parent, 
which startles me. I wonder at my own habitual 
blindness, and turn wonder ingly to mark my fellow- 
pilgrims through the wilderness of life, my school- 
fellows in the common seminary, to discover whether 
they see' and appreciate more fully the perfection of 
18 



276 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

that disciplinary economy under which we are placed. 
This subject has been suggested to me by the variety 
in my employments, mental and manual, of late. It 
has acquired a deeper interest from the fact that what 
is termed by some of my very sober friends ' mere 
amusement,' has entered more largely than usual into 
the list of my occupations. I am far from thinking 
that these amusements ought to occupy a large por- 
tion of time* Like everything else engaging our 
attention, they ought to be made subservient to our 
advancement and God's glory. 

" It seems to me that there is a great want among 
us of a recognition of God in everything, especially 
in our innocent rational enjoyments. Surely the 
great loving heart of the universal Parent, whose 
goodness is seen in the enjoyments of the minutest 
forms of animal life, looks with complacency upon 
all the forms of sinless enjoyment of which his intel- 
ligent creatures partake. That he is indifferent to the 
lightest matter wiiich ministers to their happiness is 
a supposition derogatory to his glory. Why, when 
my heart swells high with the happiness of genial 
social intercourse, cannot I look up to him with the 
loving glance of a child sure of a responsive smile of 
parental sympathy ? I think it should be so. I often 
fear my religion is too much a formal thing, put on 
for hours of devotion, or for the solemn duties of life; 
as if my Father, the God of Love, the fountain of all 
happiness, was a being of stern and awful presence, at 
the remembrance of whom a budding smile should 
vanish, and the laughter of childhood be hushed! I 
have visions of a liberty in which I ought to walk, a 



1856.] MISSION OF CHRIST'S RELIGION. 277 

glad purity of heart whose moral alchemy would 
render pure everything it touched." 

On July 19 she writes in her journal: "The religion 
of the Bible is adapted to meet all the wants of man. 
It is designed to elevate his entire nature in its three- 
fold unity. That nature, as a whole, is Che subject of 
redemption, and the Gospel exhibits its value and 
dignity. It not only points out the supreme value of 
the soul, but teaches that our body, over which death 
and corruption have a delegated and temporary power, 
is the temple of the Holy Ghost. All its teachings 
bear upon man's elevation, physically, intellectually, 
and morally. To restore man to the likeness of God 
is the glorious mission of Christ's religion. How 
very partially this beneficent design seems to be 
apprehended by the great mass of Christians !" 

Long as the next record is, probably no reader 
would wish it shorter. Earnestly is it to be wished 
that every religious professor in the land would 
read it. 

22d. " Met with the following passage in my broth- 
er's extract book : 4 Here and there is found one who 
admits the religion of heaven in its own manner, and 
imbibes its sublimity and beauty without detriment, 
and glorifies God, the giver of all, hy displaying the 
triple nobility of nature, culture, and faith.' Pity 
that it should be only 'here and there one' who thus 
glorifies God ! Surely the great Father, who, by the 
mouth of Jesus Christ, has bid his children i be per- 
fect' even as he is perfect, looks with approbation on 
the spirit panting for and striving after universal 



278 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856, 

excellence. The more I think on religion and on man 
the more forcibly am I impressed with the infinitude 
of wisdom and love from which the Gospel emanated. 
Its great principles are eternal and unchangeable, but 
what a wonderful adaptation there is in them for all 
nations and all ages ! Man has never yet exhibited 
the full glory of Christianity ; but the day is hasten- 
ing to its dawn when, not ' here and there one, 5 but 
masses of men shall glorify the great author of Chris- 
tianity by exhibiting the ' triple nobility of nature, 
culture, and faith.' 

u Ought I not to aim at this 1 Is not the religion I 
have embraced designed to elevate my whole nature? 
Does it not appeal to my noblest instincts ? If my 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, if that, too, 
w r as included in the price of redemption, and Christi- 
anity demands of me an habitual recognition of that 
fact, surely my mind, which even amid the ruins of 
the fall exhibits traces of its divine origin, is included 
in the provisions of Christianity ! 

" I find myself, therefore, in my threefold nature, a 
pupil in the school of Christianity. The first blessing 
which religion conferred upon me was a renewed 
nature, a heart right toward God. It did not engraft 
upon me any new faculty, it simply turned my feet 
into the right path, cancelled my past transgressions, 
and gave my moral nature a right bias. These were 
its initiatory steps. Its provisions extend far, far be- • 
yond this. It has taken me in my triple nature to 
train and educate. It speaks to me of growth, pro- 
gression, and Chris tlikeness, as the highest end of my 
being. The great principles which Christ laid down, 



1856.] INCIDENTS OF DAILY LIFE. 279 

and which his own life illustrated, are to govern me. 
My intellectual faculties, sanctified by religion, are to 
be freely exercised on the great truths of Christianity. 
With the freedom, but the reverence of a child, I may 
trace out the wisdom, power, and love of my Father 
in redemption, in his moral government of the world, 
and in the wonders of his creating power. I am in- 
vited to investigate these, for I have a personal inter- 
est in them of which an angel cannot boast. In 
studying them I enlarge my conceptions of God. 

"The incidents of my daily life are arranged by 
that same wisdom and love for the purpose of my 
moral training. They are the means best adapted for 
securing this. It is strange that they are regarded by 
many of the children of God as hinderances to piety. 
There lingers in many minds that remnant of Popish 
corruption which a wicked priesthood has nurtured 
for purposes of worldly emolument : that God is best 
worshiped in long and frequent acts of devotion, 
ecstacies of feeling, and the cultivation of the emo- 
tions. All these are right and proper in their place, 
but they are a very small portion of the means of true 
religious growth. c When one is growing in religion,' 
says an able writer, 'he converts the common pur- 
suits of life into means of piety. The spiritual 
temper gives its own color to all objects, and influ- 
ences every choice of the mind. The soul becomes 
impregnated with love, and sees and pursues all things 
under its influence/ 

" The employments and pursuits of daily life are to 
us just what we make them. We stamp their value 
to us by the spirit we bring to them, They are de- 



280 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

.signed as educational appliances by our great Teacher, 

and if we fail to recognize and approve them as such, 

we rob ourselves of an incalculable good, and God of 

a portion of his glory. 

"If I am true to God and my own nature I must 

aim at the highest cultivation of that nature. I must 

seek to glorify him by a. steady consistent growth in 

all excellence, by a harmonious development of all the 

graces of his Spirit." 

" That patiently 
My part appointed in thy thought fulfilling, 

Day-builded life may be, 
Both temple, and home, and rest, 
Each finished wondrously.'* 

On July 26 she writes to Mr. W- 1 : " I was 

gratified by your description of our modern Babylon. 
Thoughts such as you so eloquently express have 
frequently crowded upon me as I have been hurried 
along with the great tide of humanity surging in its 
mighty heart. London is the place to divest us of 
our self-importance; one feels such a speck on the 
vast ocean of humanity. The circumstances attend- 
ing my occasional visits to it have given a complexion 
to the last few years of my life. It has been my lot 
to meet with minds of a rare and curious caliber 
there, and these have furnished matter of interest far 
higher and more enduring than the endlessly varied 
and wondrous haunts of amusement for which London 
is famed." 

Her journal receives another contribution on 
August 3 : " There is a power of controlling thought 
which I greatly lack. This causes many failures in 



1856.] MEANS OF ACQUIRING EXCELLENCE. 281 

the realization of that excellence at which I aim. Let 
me feed my mind with such thoughts only as are pure, 
noble, and useful. MJr- imagination needs a check. 
It occupies soil in which plants of more solid worth 
should grow. 

" How important is the admonition of the apostle, 
4 Watch !' In an emergency, when some difficulty or 
trial suddenly presents itself, I am apt to feel a mo- 
mentary inability to meet it, This is because I for- 
get God. I have spoken of anticipated trial and my 
capability for grappling with it as if I had to meet it 
in my unaided strength. What blindness to my 
privileges ! What dishonor to my loving Father, 
upon whose strength it is my highest glory to lean, 
and who has purposely ordered these things for the 
quickening and expansion of my powers ! Great dif- 
ficulties are inseparable from lofty achievements in 
the moral as well as the physical world. Strength 
is born of trial. . Let me live in the habitual recol- 
lection of that declaration of the illustrious apostle : 
'I can do all things through Christ which strength- 
ened me. 5 " 

On the 4th she writes to a friend : "I can scarcely 
tell you what I am reading ; nothing properly, but 
snatches of everything, just to keep me from mental 
starvation. But this is not the way for me to live, 
I have learned that 

1 All knowledge is not nourishment ; 
The mind may pine upon its food.' 

I sat up an hour later last night to write to you. I 
thought I was taking time by the forelock, But old 



282 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

father Time guards that same forelock with most 
provoking vigilance. I awoke an hour later than 
usual for it this morning, and beheld the old man 
with his care-worn face relaxed into a smile of 
derision." 

Her strong affection for her friend Mrs. W., now 
called, as a Wesleyan minister's wife, to sunder ties 
of friendship and dwell among strangers, reveals 
itself in a note written on August 27 : M God bless 
you, my dear and valued friend, for all your kindness 
to me ! I owe you much, more than I can ever tell 
you here. When we meet in that better land per- 
haps I may be able." 

" I feel sad this morning," she writes to her again 
the next day ; " the unbidden tear will start when I 
think that you are indeed going to-day. Few things 
could have affected me so much as Mr. W.'s silent 
pressure of my hand last night, the unspoken adieu 
which revealed so well what my usual ' good night ' 
was designed to conceal. All this told a tale of deep 
attachment, the strength of which perhaps parting 
alone could reveal. I have commended you to God, 
to his fatherhood and protection. May you ever 
dwell beneath it ! In the future, when widely sun- 
dered, will it not be sweet to remember that we can 
confer blessings upon each other through that com- 
mon Father % We may hold the key that unlocks 
his storehouse for the gifts we each desire and need. 
And will not his loving heart respond to the prayer 
which one child of his family prefers on behalf of 
another ? I feel peculiar comfort in dwelling on 
these words : ' One in Christ Jesus. 5 " 



1856.] JOKN" STERLING. 283 

On Sept. 10 she writes again to Mrs. W. : " I have 
been going on much as usual since you left, or rather 
have had an increase of work, and been suffering from 
tic ; so that with Tasso I have sometimes said very 
feelingly : . 

1 All this hath somewhat worn roe, and may wear, 
But must be borne ; I stoop noc to despair.' 

" I am' reading John Sterling's Life and Works by 
Julius Hare. It is a perilous thing to launch on the 
sea of speculation without a firm faith in the grand 
doctrines of revelation. His death-bed is deeply 
touching. For him I believe c at eventide it was 
light ;' but not the radiant steady light, growing bright- 
er and brighter unto the perfect day, which should 
mark the close of the Christian's course; it was as 
the sudden appearance of the polar star to the weary 
mariner whose storm-tossed bark has encountered a 
long, dark tempest, in which he has well nigh been 
engulfed. 

" I was surprised to find that he died at Vent? 
nor, and was buried at Bonchurch. Near his grave, 
perhaps close by it, I mast often have strayed, dream- 
ing over those very problems whose unfathomed 
abysses he so deeply pondered. Could I then have 
read his life-story how different would have been my 
mental history." 

An event, painful to the whole family in its imme- 
diate, though cheering in its remote bearings, which 
had long been regarded as contingent, was now emerg- 
ing into the actual. Her brother had for some years^ 



284 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

for several reasons, contemplated removal to a foreign 
clime. Divine Providence seemed now to open his 
way to Australia, and after much deliberation and 
prayer he resolved to proceed thither. The anticipa- 
ted separation was, of course, a great . trial. Both 
parties, however, recognized a divine hand in it. " I 
wrote to William yesterday," she says to the biog- 
rapher on Sept. 20, " and told him that we could not 
oppose his going. I believe it is best he should go. 
I know that a generous love seeks only the happiness 
and welfare of its object. I try not to think of the 
future. I read a remark to-day which struck me 
forcibly. It was to this effect : We are too apt, like 
the women who went to the Saviour's tomb, to antic- 
ipate difficulties : 'Who will roll away the stone V 
But we forget that they found it rolled away. I find 
myself asking sometimes, in the event of such and 
such things, what shall we do when he is far away 1 
But we have a loving Father in heaven whose good- 
ness 

* Watches every numbered hair, 
And all our steps attends.' 

" Thank you for your kind counsel. We will en- 
deavor to follow it. I thank God for my friends. I 
could not bear to walk through life an unloved and 
neglected thing, nor could I be satisfied with the nar- 
row circle which bounds some people's affections. I 
often wonder at the number and richness of my bless- 
ings in these respects." 

To Miss S. R., on the 29th, she reveals something 
of the prostration of which she was the victim, the 
undoubted result of over-taxation. " The first effort 



1856.1 HER BROTHER'S LAST VISIT. 285 

of an invalid in letter- writing I consecrate to you. 
Yours of Sunday morning found me too ill to read it 
until some hours after its arrival. I can hardly tell 
you what has been the matter with me. The doctor 
says I have had a narrow escape of inflammation, 
brought on by a combination of causes, the nature of 
which, alas ! I know too well. 

" William sails by the c Walmer Castle ' a fort- 
night next Monday. We expect them all the latter 
part of this week. What is before me in the imme- 
diate future I dare not contemplate. I keep repeating 
to myself the promise, l Thy shoes shall be iron and 
brass, and as thy days so shall thy strength be.' 
Words of sublimity and comfort ! I can but faintly 
realize them, however, in my present state of weak- 
ness. 

" I long to tell you some of my thinkings of late. 
The problem f am just now most anxious to solve is : 
' What are the best means for the noblest develop- 
ment of my mental and moral powers V O Sarah, 
we do not live, we dream ! I have latterly had mo- 
mentary glimpses — lightning flashes if you will — of 
the grand possibilities of our being ; of the glory to 
be revealed, not yonder, but here in us, and through 
us. This should result in something more than vain 
yearnings. Every day I feel more deeply what of 
conflict lies between me and that bright vision of per- 
fected humanity on which my eye sometimes rests." 

On the day of her brother's departure, Oct. 14, she 
wrote to the biographer : " William felt leaving us 
very much. I never saw him so shaken. It is a sad, 



286 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

sorrowful day, I assure you. He preached twice on 
Sunday ; in the morning from Col. iv. 2, 3, and in 
the evening from ' the wedding garment,' after which 
we partook of the sacrament. It was a very affecting 
season, long to be remembered. We were all nearly 
upset. He nearly broke down through strong 
emotion." 

A few days after she writes to her Leeds friend : 
" Your letter, dear Sarah, was like delicious dew upon 
my fever-parched spirit. I need not tell you that I 
have suffered since I last wrote. I will not dwell 
upon this, but rather upon the goodness and mercy 
which have so richly sustained us all. We all feel 
so surely that it is for the best. Last Friday the 
valedictory services were held at the Mission-house. 
Sarah seems to have made up her mind bravely to 
her Australian home, and Minnie chatted like an em- 
bryo colonist. 

" The future has often lately presented itself to my 
mind as a dense, palpable cloud, charged with import- 
ant events, casting a shadow on my spirit. I can 
scarcely explain this, nor do I allow my mind to dwell 
on it. I am enabled to maintain a strong unwavering 
confidence in the fatherhood of God. I can trust the 
future to him. My chief desire is that my character 
may more and more assimilate to that of the righteous, 
for whom ' light is sown,' and to whom there ' ariseth 
light in the darkness.' 

" I have not gone through Sterling's Essays, but I 
think them generally unfinished productions, I like 
the one on Carlyle best. He has evidently brought 
all bis powers to bear on that, and brings to his task 



1856.] CAKLYLE. 287 

also an admiring eye and a loving heart. I was glanc- 
ing through Carlyle's ' Past and Present ' once more 
the other day. What a strange, stirring book it is ! 
The words often seem on fire, and electrify you. It 
is quite a paradox to me, but he seems to understand 
the essence of true religion better than any writer I 
have ever read. Take, for instance, one sentence out 
of many equally forceful and true. He contends that 
all real religion, all true faith in a true Gospel, will 
give to the innermost heart of a man ' a force for 
work.' It will ' burn like a painfully smouldering fire, 
giving thee no rest till thou unfold it, till thou write 
it down in beneficent facts around thee !' What a 
power and suggestiveness of thought there is in the 
close of that sentence ! I should like us to read some 
parts of this strange book over again together." 

It would be uncandid to regard every sentiment in 
a letter to a friend as the record of deliberate opinion. 
There is one sentence in the preceding passage which 
certainly must not be so regarded. In stating that 
Carlyle seems to understand the essence of true re- 
ligion better than any writer she had ever read, Miss 
Hessel commits an inadvertence. She knew well that 
the essence of religion " is love out of a pure heart," 
supreme love to God and sincere love to man, our 
enemies not excepted. Now, so far from insisting on 
love as the grand requisite of human character, Car- 
lyle is utterly silent respecting it. He concerns him- 
self with facts rather than with principles. Energy is 
his desideratum ; and whether it originate in the phys- 
ical temperament and belong therefore to the animal, 
or in intense sympathy with Christ's self-sacrificing 



288 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

benevolence, and belong therefore to the divine, is ap- 
parently of slender consequence to him. 

The word "purpose" would probably have more 
accurately expressed her meaning than the word " es- 
sence." The sentiment would still, however, have 
been open to criticism ; for though he enforces 
morals with uncommon vigor, his earnestness is 
equaled by many of the writers with whom she was 
well acquainted. It is notorious that the theology and 
spirit of the Church with which she was connected are 
intensely practical. Well, therefore, might she regard 
the matter as a paradox. Had she paused and en- 
deavored to resolve the paradox she would have dis- 
covered and corrected her error. 

The sentence quoted is a striking and beautiful 
representation of the effect of Christian faith. A more 
precious gem is not to be found in any volume of 
practical theology. 

She gives forth some utterances to Mr. F., on Oc- 
tober 30, which are as applicable to many others as 
no doubt they were to him : "I am increasingly im- 
pressed with the sublime significance of our present 
life. Your musings on this subject touched a sympa- 
thetic cord. The other morning, while confessing my 
spiritual coldness and dwarfishness, in a strain greatly 
resembling your letter, a thought something like this 
forcibly impressed me. I come to God with thanks- 
giving for providential mercies, but when I mention 
my spiritual affairs I do but complain and pray for 
grace, for larger spiritual influences, without a word 
of thanksgiving for those already received. True, I 



1856.] CAUSE FOB THANKSGIVING. 289 

am poor, and very unworthy ; but I bore that provo- 
cation with a humility not natural to me ; I held my 
peace when pride bid me speak loftily ; I felt some- 
thing of patient submission when my will was crossed, 
because I thought my Father knew better than I and 
ordered it thus. And what caused this ? 

" I have much to lament, but much also for which I 
am bound to offer praise. To withhold it is to yield 
to the snare of the devil, to rob God of his glory, and 
my own soul of a blessing. ' Whoso offereth praise 
glorifieth me,' saith the Lord. Now try the plan, my 
friend. Praise God for your change of views with 
reference to Christ. Cultivate a habit of recognizing 
subjects for thanksgiving in your inner life. They 
will multiply before your mental vision, and create a 
tide of joyous feeling which will deepen and widen 
until it fills' your soul. God dispenses his spiritual 
gifts freely where they are appreciated and given back 
to him in loving praise and deeds of glowing charity 
to men. 

" Read Foster. I followed the workings of his 
mind with a strange fascination. He sets you a think- 
ing, and books are worth little that do not that." 

Mrs. W. is afforded an insight into the debilitat- 
ing influences that were now in powerful operation. 
November 11 : "Nothing but dire necessity has pre- 
vented me writing to you before this. I thank you 
more than I can express for your letter ; it was kind 
of you to write again, and it found me in a mood pe- 
culiarly fitted to appreciate such an act of pure charity, 
jaded and worn with excess of work and a very in- 



290 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

adequate quantum of sleep. I am looking up, how- 
ever, almost rejoicing, after a season of very trying 
affliction. I have many bright anticipations of the 
future of that land which my brother has adopted, and 
of the work he has gone to do in that new sphere of 
Anglo-Saxon enterprise. He has gone forth full of 
faith and hope, carrying with him a number of our 
brother's ' Memorials.' What the living voice of the 
earnest preacher and the utterances of him 'who 
being dead yet speak eth' may do for Methodism in 
Australia the future will show. Every one we con- 
verse with thinks he has done right to go, and we 
cannot but acquiesce and thank God that in making 
the sacrifice our offering is such as the Church ap- 
proves. We pray it may reflect honor upon her and 
bring glory to God. 

"I scarcely know what to say to you, my friend, 
about your own circumstances just now. They are 
not such as my heart would have chosen for you, but 
I trust God has appointed your inheritance, and he 
loves you with an infinite love. I often feel, when my 
friends are tried, that the ordinary expressions of re- 
gret for them are sadly out of place. They seem to 
me, when rightly using their trials, such privileged 
beings, adding to the luster of their Christian graces, 
increasing their usefulness, and treasuring up in 
heaven a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory. 

" Of myself I might say much were you here to 
listen. I have much to be yery thankful for. My 
unfaithfulness might have tempted the Holy Spirit to 
leave me, but he does not. Lately he has been very 



1856.] THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN. 291 

present with me, enlightening my mind as to the 
grand capabilities of my nature, and applying a class 
of Scripture texts which I desire earnestly to study, 
such as these : l As ye have received Christ Jesus the 
Lord, so walk ye in him.' ' If ye then be risen with 
Christ, etc' ' Ye are dead, and your life is hid with 
Christ in God. 5 ' Whatsoever ye do in word or deed 
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks 
unto the Father by him.' c I live, yet not I, but 
Christ liveth in me.' What a depth of meaning is 
there not in that last passage ? It is not Christ living 
in me as though I were a machine, and could only act 
as he willed, for then my holiness would have no 
virtue ; but ' I live,' and he ' liveth in me.' Can you 
tell me what it means 1 O that some of the sublime 
experiences of the apostle when he penned these 
words might fall on us ! 

" I got a refreshing glimpse of the glory to be re- 
vealed, the joy of heaven, consisting in the great fact 
of our assimilation to the moral purity of God, the 
perfect holiness of his character, our personal free- 
dom from the warfare with sin, the glorious conscious- 
ness of individual moral purity, a purity which can 
never by any possibility be tainted. The thought 
suggests the question why % How shall we be held so 
securely in that blessed state'?" 

Our experience of the evils of disobedience, and the 
blessedness of His service, together with the luminous 
views we shall have of the glory of his character, and 
the weight of our personal obligation to him, will 
form a bond strong enough to bind us forever to 
himself. 

19 



292 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

On December 2 she writes to Mrs. R s : "We 

have been very busy with the basket. It was well it 
came, for it prevented our indulgence in much sorrow. 
"We are looking forward hopefully to William' sjuture 
in Australia, and are not without the anticipation of 
seeing him again » There have been so many bright 
and cheering thoughts connected with his mission that 
I feel it would be wrong to repine, and that we 
ought rather to give thanks. Just after he left, Mr. 
Hardy, of Whitby, wrote me a beautiful letter about 
the glorious future of that land, and my brother's 
adaptation for doing a great work there, which greatly 
cheered me, 

" I have read little of late. I have been much in- 
terested in c English Traits,' by Emerson. His ideal- 
istic tendency leads him to view English character in 
an aspect often amusing, but there are some very 
happy hits in some of his descriptions, and some 
great truths contained in his startling and extrava- 
gant assertions. Instance the remark that the gospel 
of the English gentleman is, ' Ye are saved by taste.' 
4 To do a thing out of taste is a crime in English so- 
ciety for which banishment is too light a punishment.' 
I have seen this verified in some circles, and I believe 
it applies to a class of mercantile men w T ho are tread- 
ing on the heels of the aristocracy in that strife to 
ascend which is so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon 
race. 

" How glorious is the faith of which you write ! 
How far better than all cold logical reasoning, how- 
ever conclusive, is that argument from consciousness 
which you adduce for the divinity of Christ ! I re- 



1856.] THE ANGEL OF JEHOVAH. 293 

m ember ed the days of old, and felt that he in whom 
I have trusted is none other than Christ the Son of 
God. I have been struck lately, in reading the Scrip- 
tures, with the amount of incidental and inferential 
evidence to the doctrine. It seems to me stronger 
almost than any other. It was a fact so thoroughly 
interwoven with the faith of the apostles that they 
seldom think of dogmatically stating it, but they are 
constantly furnishing indications of their settled faith 
in it. 

" I am drawing to the close of Channing's life. It 
is a noble monument of a noble life. I am convinced 
though, that for many readers he is a dangerous 
writer on some points. His manner of putting a 
thing is very often plausible. Instance the Jehovah- 
Angel of the Old Testament, which orthodox divines 
are agreed is the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. Chan- 
ning's remarks on this revived a latent skepticism, of 
which I am always conscious when I hear the asser- 
tion from the pulpit that this c angel of the Lord ' 
was verily the Messiah to come. Channing asks : 
6 Why did not the apostles recognize this fact V Sure- 
ly it would have been a prominent feature in their 
preaching to the Jews just after the resurrection. 
And why does Paul say in the very beginning of his 
letter to the Hebrews : ' God who at sundry times 
and divers manners spake unto the fathers by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by 
his Son.' Not quite satisfactory as I always feel the 
common belief on this subject to be, I think it is bet- 
ter supported than the other. Have you ever thought 
about the matter'?" 



294 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

To those who implicitly receive Scripture testimo- 
ny, its declarations, it appears to the writer, are fitted 
to afford ample satisfaction on this point. Let two 
instances out of many suffice to show that this angel 
was not a creature : " To Hagar the Angel of Jeho- 
vah said, ' / w r ill multiply thy seed exceedingly.' " 
Three times besides the same person speaks under 
the same name ; and at last it is added that Hagar 
called upon the name of Jehovah, who had spoken to 
her: "Thou art God who seest me!" Gen. xvi, 
7-13. " The angel of Jehovah from heaven called to 
Abraham : Nosv I know that thou fearest God, and 
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. 
The angel of Jehovah called to Abraham a second 
time from heaven, and said, By MYSELF I have 
sworn, saith JEHOVAH, that since thou hast done 
this thing in blessing I will bless thee." Gen. xxii, 
11-18.* "The term angel," says Richard Watson 
in an able and conclusive argument on this subject in 
his Institutes, " must here be considered as a term 
of office. He is called ' the angel of the Lord ' be- 
cause he was the Messenger of the Lord ; because he 
was sent to execute his will, and to be his visible 
image and representative. His office, therefore, un- 
der this appellation, was ministerial; but ministra- 
tion is never attributed to the Father. He who was 
sent must be a distinct person from him by whom he 
was sent ; the messenger from him whose message 
he brought and whose will he performed. The an- 
gel of Jehovah is, therefore, a different person from 
the Jehovah whose messenger he was, and yet the 
*Dr. Pye Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i. 



1856.] THE ANGEL OF JEHOVAH. 295 

angel himself is Jehovah. Thus does the Old Test- 
ament most clearly reveal to us, in the case of Jeho- 
vah, and the angel of Jehovah, two divine persons, ' 
while it still maintains its great fundamental princi- 
ple that there is but one God." 

That this angel was the Messiah to come is de- 
monstrated by a comparison of two passages of 
Scripture. Moses says to the Israelites : " Ye shall 
not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in 
Massah." Deut. vi, 16. The apostle Paul says: 
" Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them [that 
is, the Jews in the wilderness] also tempted him, 
and were destroyed of serpents." 1 Cor. x, 9. "Now 
what could lead the apostle to substitute Christ in 
the place of ' the Lord your God V " asks Mr. Wat- 
son. " Nothing, certainly, but that the idea was 
familiar to him, that Christ and the Angel- Jehovah, 
who conducted and governed the Israelites, were the 
same person." With these passages before us it may 
justly excite surprise that Dr. Charming should ask : 
" Why did not the apostles recognize this fact ?" The 
passage in Heb. xii, 25-26, Mr. Watson shows to be 
also decisive as a proof that the angel of Jehovah 
and our Lord are the same person. 

The inference Dr, Charming would have us deduce 
from the fact of the apostles not making the identity 
of the AngeLJehovah with the Messiah " a prominent 
feature in their preaching," is destitute of force. The 
point needful for them to establish was not that iden- 
tity — -for there is no evidence of their countrymen 
doubting the fact—but the identity of Jesus with the 
predicted Messiah, The verse referred to in He* 



296 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1856. 

brews evidently represents Christ as a public teacher. 
Had the Angel-Jehovah appeared in that capacity the 
query would have had more relevancy. 

An incident is mentioned in a letter to one of her 
friends, which, though of small consequence in itself, 
is interesting as an exhibition of character. It relates 
to a gentleman of some classical attainments. "I 
once gave Mr. H. a very beautiful passage to read 
from Alexander Smith, and his enthusiasm fell at 
the third line. He stopped and said, 'Miss Hessel, 
this line doesn't scan.' I felt tempted to snatch the 
book out of his hand." 

On January 6, 1857, she writes to the biographer : 
" I am reading Lynch's Lectures on ' Aids to Self- 
improvement.' I recommend them for your perusal 
should they fall in your way. You will like a great 
deal of the book very much." 

" I have read i Dred,' and enjoyed it. Our Ameri- 
can sisters are doing a great work. They have 
swept and garnished the platform of fiction, and are 
making it what it ought to be, the vehicle for convey- 
ing the noblest truths to the masses, of humanity. 
Miss Warner's ' Hills of the Shatemuc,' although 
dull in the early part, is nevertheless a valuable con- 
tribution to this kind of literature. The struggles of 
a proud, imperious, self-willed girl, with the elements 
of a noble character at the bottom, are truthfully de- 
picted. Her earnest search after religious truth, her 
rebellion of heart to the yoke of Christ, her deep 
convictions of its righteousness, and the beautiful sim- 



1857.] SCANTY AIDS TO SELF-IMPKOVEMENT. 297 

pie faith which at last made it so easy, are well de-* 
lineated. Such pictures of humanity, and the opera- 
tion of the Gospel on its rugged, complex points, are 
worth a thousand times more for every practical 
purpose than the most beautiful descriptions of your 
sweet milk-and-water women, who are almost too 
good for the Gospel to make them any better. 

" I am doing nothing at present except thinking out 
a few matters which I have neither time nor energy to 
commit to paper. I should, I think, be quite easy to 
do nothing in this way at present if some of my friends 

did not urge it upon me. Mr. W 1. dogmatizes 

after this fashion : c Utter your thought. Yourself 
and the world must be the better for it. 5 Against 
this I quote his oracle Carlyle : ' Wait till thy thought 
has well matured itself. 5 

"I feel painfully sometimes the scanty aids I have 
for self-improvement—that is, in many respects, The 
influences of my daily life are anything but elevating. 
True, I am rich in correspondents, and not poor in 
books ; but there are wants here of which I feel deeply 
sensible. When under other influences, I realize 
rapid development of thought, kindling of intellect- 
ual power, to which I am a stranger here. Still I 
have much to be thankful for, and need, most of all, 
the gift to use well and wisely every endowment and 
acquisition. 55 

"The game of life 
Looks cheerful, when one carries in one's heart 
The unalienable treasure ! 'Tis a game 
Which having once reviewed, I turn more joyous 
Back to my deeper and appropriate bliss*" 



298 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A Valuable Eemark of Perthes' — The Study of the Bible — The 
Intermediate State — Spiritual Experiences — Failing Health — 
Life of Hewitson — Will there be Error in Heaven — No Dis- 
grace in Industry — The Preciousness of the Simple Truths of 
the Gospel in Sickness — The Duration of Future Punishment 
— Eeligion a Priceless Treasure — Visits Bradford, Birkenshaw, 
and Scarborough — Application of a Precious Promise — A Ee- 
markable Manifestation — A Dreadful Storm — A Prayer. 

It has been truly observed by the sagacious and noble- 
minded Perthes, that " the history of a human being 
resolves itself mainly into the history of his affec- 
tions." Our tastes are refined or debased ; our en- 
joyments augmented or diminished ; our characters 
ennobled or degraded, according to the nature of the 
objects we love. There is no subject, the considera- 
tion of which is of greater practical importance than 
the assimilating influence of the objects of our regard. 
The range of objects eliciting our affections determ- 
ines largely the measure of our enjoyment. "Love 
is the sum total of life." Those who open their hearts 
to every object worthy of them, have an enjoyment 
as much surpassing theirs who senselessly or selfishly 
close them to all but a very few objects, as a river 
exceeds a rill. Miss Hessel's was emphatically a 
loving soul. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say 
that everything worthy of it secured her love. Hence 
her streams of joy were both various and numerous. 
Rich, however, as was the enjoyment she derived 



1857.] THE BIBLE HER CHIEF STUDY. 299 

from nature, art, and literature, experience had now 
instructed her that the amplest as well as purest source 
of delight consisted in the contemplation of the Divine 
character as revealed in the inspired volume. Her 
love of literature had, at one period, insidiously 
sapped the vigor of her piety. On discovering the 
lamentable fact, however, she betook herself, in the 
spirit of the devoted Henry Martyn, to the Book of 
books. Latterly, as the reader will have seen, it 
became her chief study, and the effects were visible in 
an increased spirituality and desire for usefulness. 
She discovered that while the mere reader of the 
Bible may both experience interest and derive profit, 
the diligent student alone realizes its beauties and 
proves the fullness of its power. The surface of the 
earth furnishes the sustenance needful for man's phys- 
ical nature, but the minerals by which his social prog- 
ress is to be promoted are hidden in its deep 
recesses. So all that is needful for personal salvation 
is on the surface of the sacred page, but the principles 
upon which depends the development of a refined and 
noble Christian character can be discovered only by 
devout and patient search. The subjoined letter, ad- 
dressed to Mr. F. on January 11, will furnish one 
link in the chain of evidence that Scripture study was 
continued as long as ability permitted : 

" I have been thinking about you this afternoon, and 
praying for you. I ought perhaps to account for this 
by telling you of two things. One is that latterly I 
have been seriously impressed with a sense of the 
double responsibility which my friendships impose 



300 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

upon me. You know something of the high value I 
put upon them. I am anxious to derive from them a 
greater benefit, <and also to communicate all the good 
I can. Another thing which led me to think of and 
pray for you, is a Memoir of Adelaide Nekton I am 
reading. She was a profound student of the Bible, 
and compared the translation with the original. I am 
astonished at the richness of her remarks on some 
passages. She dwells upon some errors which hold 
many of the saints of God in bondage. There is one 
I have more than once mentioned which I believe to 
be a great barrier to your religious enjoyment— that 
almost constant poring over your heart for evidence 
of your spiritual growth. Her Scripture readings 
have led her to think the prevalent notion on the im- 
portance of self-examination erroneous. She says it 
is never directly enjoined, except in two instances, 
namely, 1 Cor. xi, 28, and 2 Cor. xiii, 5, and there it 
relates to the possession of Christian character. Her 
views seem in harmony with .those of Vinet and 
M'Cheyne. She says in a letter to a friend: 'I can- 
not find a single instance in which, either in the Gos- 
pels or epistles, Christians are taught by example or 
precept to make a study of their own hearts. I can- 
not help thinking that Christian experience has far too 
much taken the place of the study of Christ and the 
character of God, and that this accounts, in great 
measure, for the low and desponding state of so many 
Christians. Do you not think that the constant study 
of His character would far more effectually teach us 
our depravity than poring over our own V Yes, Ade- 
laide, and a constant looking to Him is the only rem- 



1857.] INTERMEDIATE STATE. 301 

edy for that depravity. B y such looking alone are we 
4 changed into the same image.' 

"I am myself in danger of putting the Spirit's 
work within me in the place of Christ's work for me. 
The tempter is not slow in helping us to such a 
course, and we need the wisdom of the serpent to 
guard against his wiles. Your mother will be pleased 
with this memoir. I have found 'great spoil' in it. 
Hers was a noble manifestation of one of the phases 
of Christian life ; not perhaps the one I should most 
admire, for I strongly doubt whether her ideal of 
Christian character is of the highest and best type. 

" I have thought of commencing the study of John's 
epistles. Will you join me? And let us exchange 
our thoughts on passages which strike us particularly. ' 
1 feel impressed with the necessity of digging deeper 
into the mine of sacred truth if I would maintain and 
cherish the religious life." 

On January 14 she writes to Mr. B. : "I thank you 
for your interesting letter. I wish I had time to do 
it justice to-day, but fear I have not. There is another 
theory more satisfactory to me than the one of un- 
consciousness in the intermediate state, and yet not 
quite satisfactory. It is that the believer is admitted 
after death to perfect communion with Christ, but 
that he waits for the recognition and communion of 
saints until he be £ clothed upon ' with his house from 
heaven. The word ' unclothed ' suggests the idea of a 
state in which one would wish for privacy, to be un- 
seen ; but when ' clothed upon ' we are to ' appear 
with Christ in glory.' I shall be glad to hear more 



302 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HE8SEL. [1857. 

about it when your discussions have terminated. I 
am very favorable to free inquiry and discussion, 
even on such subjects, provided we bring to them a 
truth-loving and reverent spirit. This last is import- 
ant, and ought to be carefully cherished.' 

Mischief has no doubt sometimes resulted from 
what is called " free inquiry and discussion ;" but has 
no mischief resulted from the stupidity or credulous- 
ness which the absence of such a spirit often indicates 1 
The numberless subjects which reveal themselves with 
just sufficient clearness to excite curiosity, and the 
deep interest which these subjects awaken in all re- 
flecting minds, warrant the inference that our Creator 
designed to encourage such inquiry. Let it be con- 
ducted in the spirit Miss Hessel commends, and regu- 
lated by a due regard to the practical, and far more 
benefit than injury will result. Next to moral per- 
versity, mental stupor is the greatest calamity, person- 
ally and socially, that can befall us. It will be needful 
for some minds to guard against the love of dispu- 
tation, an evil which can scarcely be too strongly 
deprecated. 

" It gives me great pleasure," she proceeds, " to find 
your heart still fresh and earnest in the great work 
upon which you have entered. To be a successful 
laborer in the Master's vineyard is of the first im- 
portance. May you never lose the ' dew of your 
youth !' I have been much struck lately in reflecting 
on and comparing the different kinds of preaching I 
have heard. How easy it is to tell when a minister has 
thought out for himself the truths he enunciates to the 
people ! What a freshness there is in them in this case ! 



1857.] SECRET OF RIGHT LIVING. 803 

" I have felt several times during the last week as 

if I had a great deal to say to Mr. W 1. I fear 

it will all evaporate before I have time to jot it down. 
I should like to realize Mrs. Stowe's vision — put a 
sheet or two of letter-paper in my bosom, think all I 
wanted to say, and then drawing the paper forth, find 
it all written down, properly punctuated, i's dotted, 
t's crossed, and all ready for dispatch." 

February 19 she says to Mrs. W. : "I read with 
great interest the record of your religious life con- 
tained in your letter. You have got hold of the se- 
cret of right living — looking constantly to Jesus, and 
dwelling on until you realize the fullness and com- 
pleteness of Christ as a Saviour. This morning, 
while dressing, this text came to my mind : ' He was 
manifested to destroy the works of the devil.' I can- 
not tell you the beauty I saw in it and the comfort I 
derived. There was the manifestation itself, suggest- 
ing along with the necessity for it all the tenderness 
of Christ's human and fraternal character. ' He took 
on him our nature.' i It behoved him to be made like 
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and 
faithful High Priest.' Then the grand and compre- 
hensive purpose of his manifestation — 6 to destroy the 
works of the devil,' not merely in the high places of 
Satan's empire, but in the believer's heart, in my 
heart. Not to subdue but destroy. I cannot tell you 
how I prize these occasional applications of Scripture 
truths. They are truly oases in the desert through 
which I have lately been passing. 

" The other morning I woke with this on my heart 
and lips : ; For we know that if this earthly house of 



304 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

our tabernacle were dissolved, etc' Some render the 
passage, e when our earthly house of this tabernacle 
shall be dissolved.' But to me on that occasion the 
' if and the ' were' seemed greatly preferable. What 
if the earthly house were this moment dissolved ! 
Why the heavenly house is ready, waiting. Nay, it 
is our's now, 4 we have' it, says Paul. It is our in- . 
heritance to which we have the title deeds, and shall 
have the possession the moment our present house is 
dissolved. What a glorious privilege is ours ! 

" Perhaps I ought to tell you that that home has 
been dearer to me of late from the fact that the earthly 
house has seemed to be giving way. I have many in- 
dications of its frailty and feebleness. For three 
months I have been far from well, and am now under 
the care of my medical attendant. It was a relief 
when he told me this morning that the drowsiness, 
forget fulness, and mental inaction I have experienced 
were the consequences of disease. It has seemed so 
shocking that again and again my brief evening de- 
votions have ended in a troubled sleep ; and that at 
public worship I have not been able to keep awake, 
even when listening to what was deeply interesting. 

" Did you ever note the exquisite gentleness and 
tenderness of the Saviour when drawing near to that 
terrible hour in Gethsemane 1 He took three of the 
disciples, and desiring them to watch with him said : 
'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' 
Coming back after a brief absence, instead of the sor- 
row which such a revelation of their Master's suffer- 
ing might reasonably have been expected to excite, he 
found them asleep. But there was no denunciation 



1857.1 EICH IK FEIENDS. 305 

for these faithless watchers. There was first an ex- 
pression of sorrowful wonder. ' What, could ye not 
watch with me one hour V Then a kind admonition, 
which manifested self-forgetfulness even in such an 
hour, in care for them : - Watch and pray, lest ye 
enter into temptation.' And finally, a tender and 
loving apology, such as only the heart of Jesus could 
have made under such circumstances : l The spirit in- 
deed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' I have dwelt 
upon it with great comfort. 

" I am reading Hewitson's life. He was very much 
like M'Cheyne. These Scotchmen study human na- 
ture deeply. But I like most of all their views of 
Christ's work, its all-sufficiency and entirety. The 
volume abounds with such passages as this : 4 Faith is 
the soul's outward, not inward, look. The object on 
which faith fixes its eye is not the heart's ever-varying 
frames, but the never-varying Christ.' 

" Mrs. M. is here, and often comes to see me. We 
talk very freely to each other on the phases of relig- 
ious life. How rich I am in friends ! I wonder often 
at the goodness of God in giving me so many such pre- 
cious blessings. I think I appreciate it in some meas- 
ure, and from my heart I daily thank him for this, his 
richest earthly blessing." 

Further indications of deep-seated mischief are ex- 
hibited in a letter to the biographer dated March 2 : 
" I suppose I must tell you something of myself, al- 
though the subject, I assure you, is anything but pleas- 
'ant. Soon after I wrote to Mrs. P. I called in our 
medical attendant. Presently a whole catalogue of 



306 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

disasters came upon me, the climax of which was (at 
least I hope so) an abscess over a network of nerves, 
irritated by involuntary muscular twitchings and by 
my cough. It seemed as if the essence of all the 
physical suffering I have ever known was concentrated 
in those few days and nights. But they are past, 
and I am now able to walk about again, and hoping 
for strength as the spring advances. When I make 
the least exertion I find myself very weak, though 
when I lie I am apt to fancy myself nearly well. But I 
must desist, as the big drops of perspiration are starting 
from almost every pore with this little effort. 

"4. My letter makes slow progress. My days 
are so short, and my strength holds out such a little 
while, that you must pardon this meager letter. I do 
not get down stairs until eleven ; in the afternoon we 
have frequently several callers, and in the evening I 
am too weary to make any exertion. I find this kind 
of life not a little trying. But my cup runneth over 
with mercy, and loving-kindness encompasseth me. I 
have occasionally startling views of the work lying 
before me, and which I had hoped to do ; sad, sad feel- 
ings about the little I yet have done in the vineyard of 
the Lord ; and sometimes earnest longings for better 
health in order to better living. 

" Of one thing, however, I am satisfied. He know- 
eth what is best for me who chooses i the lot of my 
inheritance,' and I leave myself in his hands. I wish 
I could convey to you some idea of the sweet restful- 
ness I often feel in the assurance that a loving Father 
is providing for all my needs, present and future; 
that I have a home here which his love brightens and 



1857.] WILL ERROR EXIST IK HEAVEN. 307 

blesses, and a home yonder where I shall dwell in the 
light of his countenance forever. 

"My brightest views of heaven of late have been 
those which regard it as a place of active service, the in- 
vigorated and ever-expanded faculties all prepared for 
unwearying service. What that service may be I cannot 
tell, but it will be doing His pleasure, and that is enough. 

" I was thinking the other day about the antagonistic 
doctrines which are held among Christian people, and 
how Christ's image shines out from men of widely 
different creeds. It seems to me we are but partially 
educated here. The disciplinary part of our educa- 
tion terminates of course with our mortal life ; but 
what accessions of knowledge, what corrections of er- 
roneous opinions, of dishonoring views of God, shall we 
realize in heaven ! I think one bond of union between 
the glorified will be the universal search after truth, 
the eagerness to be put right on matters of intellectual 
error concerning God and Christ. I have more to say, 
but must desist. Pardon this egotistical letter. I fear 
the kindness of my friends nurses my egotism, or rath- 
er, my own heart transmutes the blessing into a bane." 

The idea of the existence of erroneous opinions in 
heaven will probably startle some readers. A little 
reflection, however, will furnish proof that Miss Hes- 
sel's views are not without a basis. Who will affirm 
of the holiest and wisest person, at his dissolution, 
that on no point does he entertain error? Where, 
when, and how does he become divested of it ? Death 
has no power to annihilate it. It cannot be dissipated 
by mechanical means. The luminous presentation of 
truth can alone exterminate error. Now, though the 
20 



308 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

light of heaven may disperse it with a rapidity infi- 
nitely surpassing the processes of present experience, 
still, inasmuch as error will probably exist on a mul- 
titude of subjects, must not that dispersion necessarily 
be gradual ? The existence of error is by no means 
inconsistent with moral purity, 

After stating that some improvement in her health 
had been experienced during the last two days, she 
says to Mr. B. on March 12 : "I am not anxious about 
my future. If I were allowed to choose my lot I 
should refer the choice to God. I cannot tell you the 
deep and abiding satisfaction I feel in the consciousness 
that every event of my life is arranged by infinite 
wisdom and love. The unchanging faithfulness of my 
heavenly Father has been unspeakably precious to 
me. I feel there are important lessons to be learned 
in affliction. 

" I think I have lately had clearer views of the rela- 
tive importance of the chief doctrines of the Bible : 
the atonement of Christ, its abounding sufficiency ; the 
priesthood of Christ, with its comprehensive benefi- 
cent provisions; the law, so utterly inadequate for 
man as the way of life, yet so perfect as the rule of 
life. A thousand glorious truths radiate from the 
grand central doctrines of the Gospel ; but in sickness, 
when mind and body are enfeebled, how precious do 
the few simple cardinal doctrines, the pith and mar- 
row of the Gospel, become! I can remember long 
hours of agonizing suffering, in which, amid a thou- 
sand dim flitting fancies that whirled through my brain, 
the two words ' Christ ' and ' surety ' seemed my only 
rock and resting-place ; and these words I rather felt 



1857.] PKOSPECT OF DEATH. 309 

than apprehended." What an admonition is here 
against postponing to a sick-bed the practical acknowl- 
edgment of the claims of Christ ! 

" Friday, 20. More than a week has elapsed since I 
wrote the foregoing. On the following clay my doctor 
had to resort to severer measures, which caused me 
great suffering. After that I had a relapse, and this 
morning he said, in answer to my inquiries : ' I tell 
you candidly it will be a long time before you are bet- 
ter, and you will need to take very great care of your- 
self.' I have now a conviction that I shall not recover. 
There may often play above it fitful snatches of that 
return, in heart, to 'life and its belongings,' which I 
suppose is natural when disease relaxes its hold a lit- 
tle, but there lurks the feeling ' I am appointed to die.' 
I don't know why I tell you this. I am exceedingly 
sensitive with respect to the reports which represent 
my health unfavorably, although I recognize the folly 
of the feeling. I wondered at this in dear Mary, but 
I understand it now. Twelve months ago this very 
day I knelt by her coffin, and vowed before God, and 
in presence of the sacred dead, to strive after the real- 
ization of a higher spiritual life, and pledged myself 
to meet that beloved one in heaven. I have but ill- 
redeemed my vows. And yet I trust I have striven. 

" 1 think your study of the Inspiration question 
likely to prove more profitable than that of the i un- 
conscious ' theory. Somehow, the latter is revolting 
to my heart, and does not commend itself to my rea- 
son. Nothing else connected with the Christian's fu- 
ture is revolting. He triumphs over death and the 
grave, ' because,' says he, ' my flesh shall rest in hope.' 



310 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

Not a word of his spirit resting in hope. Why, it 
may be asked, should that thought and action which 
an Almighty power will sustain forever, be sus- 
pended? How came Moses and Elias to talk with 
Christ on the mount of transfiguration? Perhaps 
your £ unconscious ' author makes them into heavenly 
somnambulists." 

On the 23d she writes to Mr. F. : "I rejoice to hear 
of your labors and successes. Your difficulties will 
only develop new resources of energy and strength. 

" I do not remember Foster's line of argument in 
support of the limitation of future punishment. His 
theory appears to me very unsatisfactory. If the 
declaration of Scripture on this topic be explained 
away, of course the stability of the Christian's future 
glory is undermined, precisely the same words being 
employed in both cases. But were Scripture less ex- 
plicit on this point, I think a vast array of powerful 
reasoning may be adduced in favor of the doctrine of 
eternal punishment. The sentences of the judgment- 
day will not be arbitrary ; holiness and sin are pro- 
gressive principles ; that law which in the natural 
world causes every tree to bring forth fruit after its 
kind, operates also in the moral world, and the amount 
of punishment or glory depends on the ever-repro- 
ducing fruit of the principles which actuate us in life. 
Eternal death appears to me but the fruition of sin. 
Heaven and hell have more importance, in my mind, 
as states than as places. Now if man, ruined by the 
fall of Adam, required for a redemption-price ' all that 
heaven could give,' where shall the ransom of the lost 
come from ? They have sunk deeper in moral defile- 



1857.] FAILUEE OF ENERGY. 311 

nient ; they have slighted the blood of atonement, 
and l there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.' Their 
suffering can never honor the violated law, and if it 
could, what moral regeneration could it effect ? And 
without that there could be no heaven for them. 
These are a few of my thoughts on this subject. You 
must excuse the want of clearness in expression. 
All mental effort is trying to me, and often bewilder- 
ing. This is one very painful feature of my indispo- 
sition. 

" I need not tell you that lately I have thought much 
about dear Mary, and have experienced many things 
I wondered at in her. The thought of joining her has 
been very sweet. She entered heaven so lately that I 
have felt as if there would be a stronger affinity on 
that ground. And then she was so very dear to me. 
But all this may be foreign to the air of heaven. And 
yet I think it will not." 

After informing Miss S. R. that her cough gets 
worse, and no perceptible increase of strength is ex- 
perienced, she says on March 25 : " As to my mental 
state I have scarcely energy enough to analyze it. My 
spirits are tranquil and calm. I seldom feel low, 
though I sometimes weep without any assignable 
cause. I have a restful assurance that the issue of 
my affliction, with all its attendant circumstances, is 
in His hands whose fatherly love is as measureless as 
his wisdom. I think I have now told you all about 
myself worth telling, unless I were to enter into my 
occasional experiences of rich spiritual enjoyment de- 
rived especially from the precious word of Gocl. I 
feel very thankful that often my mind is more quick- 



312 MEMOEIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

ened by reading it than by any other exercise. My 
conceptions of divine truth seem more clear and vivid 
than of any other subject. I am at present reading 
Macaulay's Essays. They soothe and charm me, 
but I am sorry to say I retain very little of them. 
Write as often as you can to tell me what is going 
on in the world around you, and in that far more in- 
teresting world within you, your own heart and mind. 
" O, Sarah, what a priceless treasure is true relig- 
ion ! that faith which in the darkest hour can say : 
4 1 possess all things, for Christ is mine, and I am his. 
Come health or sickness, life or death, joy or sorrow, 
now and forever I am Christ's.' " 

On the next day she writes to Mrs. W. : " When I 
sleep well I have profuse night perspirations ; when 
I don't sleep my cough is very trying and exhaust- 
ing, so that as a matter of taste I don't care to 
choose between the two. I have one favor to ask. 
When you draw near to the mercy-seat sometimes 
remember me. Pray that I may have a will lost in 
the will of God. It is sweet to feel I am in his hands 
whose measureless love and wisdom are 4 engaged to 
make me blest.' Every flutter of apprehension, all 
dread of present and future flies when I remember 
this. How strange I should ever forget it ! 

" Dear Mrs. Dove came in when I had got thus far. 
She always brings affectionate sympathy and wise 
counsel. I remarked that I seamed now of no use in 
the world. ' My clear,' she replied, 4 1 wonder how 
much worse the world would have been if God's people 
had never suffered in it.' And then she said : c You are 



1857.] LETTER TO HER BROTHER. 313 

called to let patience have its perfect work, that you 
may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. It seems 
that patience is the crowning grace of the Christian.* 
I cannot tell you how I prize her visits ; they are al- 
ways refreshing, and furnish me with food for the heart 
afterward."* 

On the 10th of April, after communicating her 
sufferings and apprehensions to her brother, she adds : 
" Until the last few days we have had weeks of unin- 
terrupted wet w r eather, and I have been entirely con- 
fined to the house. I have had a few walks and drives 
lately, which have done me good. I never get to 
chapel, but the ministers and friends are very kind 
in visiting me, and I have every tempting delicacy 
sent which kindness can devise. I am well nursed, 
and feel no anxiety about the future. I hope you will 
not feel anxious. It is not very likely we shall meet 
again on earth, but we shall meet in a better country, 
in that fatherland, our truest home, where we shall sit 
down with the children of the kingdom, to go no more 
out forever. Life seems precious, very precious 
sometimes, chiefly for the work which may make it so 
blessed." 

" I am thankful to tell you," she writes to Mrs. W. 
on April 19, " that the last three days I have been 
very much better. I feel much more energy, and 
though it is worth little for practical purposes, it is 

* This devoted Christian lady has followed Miss Hessel to the 
better world. It is due to her memory to say that she was a 
Christian of more than ordinary maturity. Intelligence and fer- 
vor were so happily combined as to adorn her character with a 
peculiar luster. 



314 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

more pleasant to my friends and to myself than the 
listlessness and depression I have so long experienced. 
Not that I have suffered much from mental depres- 
sion. My spirit has rested in quietness and assurance, 
and though I can scarcely be said to have enjoyed 
anything of late, from sheer inability, I have possessed 
'the peace which passeth understanding,' and have 
known by faith the truth of that declaration : c The 
eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the 
everlasting arms.' Those ' bright visions \ which your 
kind heart has anticipated for me I have not lately 
realized. But all I have needed has been given — 
strength, rest, peace, comfort, and confidence in Him 
in whom all fullness dwells. 

" I should like to tell you how graciously I have 
been heard with reference to physical sufferings which 
I feared, but on this I cannot now enlarge. This 
much I may say, the abscess was a most critical one. 
It is held among medical men that the only way of 
healing such is by a very painful operation, and by 
frequent applications of caustic. My doctor has 
ventured to try a milder treatment, which promises 
to issue favorably. I feel deeply grateful, and ready 
to sing with David : ' In my distress I cried unto the 
Lord, and he heard me.' 

" I thank you, my friend, for the generous wish to 
minister to my bodily comfort. The Lord reward 
you for it. You say truly I am rich in friends. I 
cannot tell you all the love and care by which I am 
surrounded. It almost oppresses me sometimes. I 
can but make one return — my prayers that God 
would reward them. 



1857.] BLESSED PRIVILEGE. 315 

"20th. You will be glad to know that we have 
heard from William. He seems in good spirits, gets 
long rides on horseback, and says he can scarcely be- 
lieve he is not in England. He had been to the Stei- 
glitz gold-diggings, preached in the forest by moon- 
light on the stump of a tree, and staked out land for 
a new chapel. It is a little canvas town, with two 
thousand inhabitants. 

" I am not so well to-day. I have had a slight re- 
turn of the pain in my side and difficulty of breathing. 
God has laid his hand upon me, but so gently and. 
lovingly ! I often repeat Milton's lines, and feel them 
very sweet : 

4 Poor, weak, and helpless, I the more belong, 
Father Supreme, to thee !' " 

To Mrs. R s, who had been bereaved of an af- 
fectionate husband when the 'dew of youth' was yet 
upon them, she says on the 22d : " I can well under- 
stand the yearning for such communion as you have 
been wont to enjoy. What a blessed privilege is ours, 
when we feel wearied and almost fainting under l the 
needful discipline of life,' to turn to the contemplation 
of the joys awaiting us in our Father's house. They 
are ours, laid up for us. The communion of saints 
awaits us, the interchange of lofty thoughts. The 
blending of spirit with spirit will meet with no harsh 
interruptions there, nor be marred by the imperfec- 
tions of earth. In a little while we shall enter into 
our rest, and the lonely pilgrimage will be almost for- 
gotten in the joys of that ^lorious family reunion. 

" But though we refresh our spirits by these antici- 



316 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

pations, we wish not to forget that we have a work 
to do while here. It gave me pleasure to hear of 
your return to active life after so long a separation 
from it. The Lord of the vineyard has need of you, 
my friend, and he has been training you for higher 
usefulness. You have now come down from the 
mount sanctified by your sorrow, 

1 To tread once more the waves of life, 
To battle with the unceasing spray ;' 

perchance to sink sometimes 'amid the stormy strife,' 
but always to 'rise to strive again.' May the 
strength born in the hours of sadness never forsake 
you! 

" For myself, I feel as though a new life had opened 
to me within the last few days. I had felt as if all 
that remained for me in this world was patient suffer- 
ing. But now that I can get out a little, my drives 
furnish me with rich enjoyment. Yesterday, my ex- 
istence, feeble as it is, felt a subtle luxury. The beau- 
tiful hedge-rows, the rich green verdure clothing hill 
and valley, the gurgling brook, the bright blue sky, 
the joyous song of birds, and the exquisite beauty of 
the wayside leaves and flowers, filled my senses with 
all the enjoyment of which they were capable. I al- 
most felt ' this is enough.' But I remembered the 
glories of that better land, and added, ' with that in 
reversion it is.' The soul must have something to 
anticipate ; earth cannot satisfy it. 

" I have latterly read the Gospels and the Acts of 
the Apostles consecutively, in order to get an im- 
pression of the origin and first successes of Christian*. 



1857.] DARK HOURS BRIGHTENED. 317 

ity. I cannot tell you how much I have been de- 
lighted with the fresh views I have got of that won- 
drous life and death of which the world never saw the 
like, and of the men who continued with Him in his 
temptation, and preached the Gospel committed to 
them after his ascension." 

At the strong recommendation of her medical ad- 
viser and some other friends, she undertook a journey 
to Bradford on May 6, to be under the care of Dr. 
Macturk. A powerful inducement was supplied in 
the fact that she could have the comforts of a home 
with old and warm-hearted friends now resident there. 
A few days after her arrival she w T rote to a recently 
acquired, but pre-eminently kind friend, Mrs. M. : "I 
have been getting rapidly worse of late. My cough 
was distressing, my appetite very bad, and I had got 
very thin indeed. I bore the journey much better 
than I anticipated ; the day was fine and warm, and I 
was muffled up like a mummy. The first day or two 
I was very ill, but since that time I have been slowly 
improving. Dr. Macturk does not give me any very 
encouraging opinion. He says both my lungs are 
diseased. The left one has very perceptibly fallen, 
but the right one is the most diseased." 

After a little more than a fortnight's absence she 
returned home slightly improved. On the 26th, after 
expressing the sweet sense of submission to the divine 
will she generally experienced, she says to Mrs. W. : 
" But you must not imagine that my lot is all sun- 
shine. I have my darker moments, hours of suffer- 
ing when I have to say with tearful eyes, 'He hath 
compassed me before and behind, and laid his hand 



318 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

upon me.' But even then I can add with Abby Bol- 
ton, ' but so gently ! O so gently !' And then some- 
times there will come a vivid picture of nature's last 
struggle, and a shrinking from the thought of breast- 
ing the surging waters of Jordan. But I have an in- 
stant remedy for that. I look to my Divine Ee- 
deemer and say : ' That matter does not belong to me 
now. It is in thy hands to mete out the day and the 
strength proportioned to it. Not one of thy promises 
has ever yet failed me, and it is too late to distrust 
now.' While thus occupied this morning I got such 
a precious view of that promise : ' The Lord God is a 
sun and shield : the Lord will give grace and glory,' 
etc. The grace and glory seemed so closely united, 
grace to the very last moment it is needed, and then 
the glory coming in instantly to crown it. With 
what more could Almighty Power and Infinite Love 
endow the creature upon which he has 6 set his heart?' 
But there is more. I had half forgotten, in the abund- 
ance of the grace and glory, the assurance still more 
extensive, if possible, 4 no good thing will he with- 
hold from them that walk uprightly.' But my aching 
shoulders warn me to desist." 

A gentleman resident in the neighborhood of Brad- 
ford, whose occasional visits to Boston Spa had led 
to an acquaintance with Miss Hessel, and a high ap- 
preciation of her worth, urged her to spend a few 
weeks with him in the early part of summer. On June 
19 she informs Mrs. M. of her purpose to accept his 
kindness : " My state of health latterly has been such 
as to warn me against any sanguine anticipations. I 
feel that disease is progressing, and my strength 



1857.] PLEASANT JOUKNEY. 319 

gradually wasting. Dr. Macturk says in a letter I 
had from him last week, that he looks for benefit 
chiefly from change of air. I am going next week, all 
being well, to Birkenshaw, to visit Mr. Emmet for a 
few days. I shall then have an opportunity of con- 
sulting the doctor again, and learning the present state 
of my lungs. 

If it be the will of our heavenly Father I hope to 
be so much better as to visit you. But if this may 
not be, we shall ere long meet in our Father's house 
above, to part no more forever. Shall I send you a 
text which is often precious to me? Sometimes I 
have feverish, restless nights, and my cough is trying ; 
it is then sweet to remember, ' There shall be no 
night there,' no night of suffering and unrest, no night 
of darkness or sorrow." 

Accompanied by her sister and another friend, she 
arrived at Birkenshaw on the 24th. On the next day 
she wrote to her mother : " We had a safe and rather 
pleasant journey, although the heat was somewhat 
oppressive. I met with kind traveling companions, 
especially in two young gentlemen at different stages 
of the journey, who, perhaps touched with compassion 
at my pale face and troublesome cough, were really 
kindness itself. Mr. Emmet met us. He could not 
borrow a horse, but a man brought an invalid's chair 
for me, and my ride through the village was quite a 
triumphal procession. The women and children 
stared, and a dozen pair of clogs clamped alongside 
and behind me. It was very amusing I assure you. 

" We have had a walk round the garden this morn- 
ing. Such a pretty garden it is, such sweet little 



320 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

nooks and shady places where one can sit and rest ! 
After our walk Mr. Emmet and I had some spiritual 
conversation which I much enjoyed. 

"This is really a lovely retreat, cool, shady, and 
quiet. We have fall liberty to do as we like — the 
freedom of the house with all its comforts, and really 
I am enjoying them very much. I wonder how you 
get on. I fear you will be lonely. God bless you 
for all your cheerful self-denial and watchful care on 
my account." 

Her keen susceptibility to kindness reveals itself to 
Mr. W d, under date of July 3 : "Mr. Emmet's gar- 
dener sent me up a little basket of strawberries, both 
yesterday and to-day, out of his own garden. How 
kind everybody is to me ! In this I see the love of 
my heavenly Father, his tender care for the least of 
his children. I am just thinking, and the thought re- 
fers to your remark the other evening, that all the 
tender human affection lavished on me has rather 
tended to endear the thought of heaven than earth, to 
fill me with anticipations of the glorious perpetuity of 
such affection in a nobler state of being, rather than to 
create a clinging to earth. The future often seems 
much more of a reality than the past and the present — 
an eternal, unchanging, yet ever progressive existence." 

On the 6th she communicates some of her heart- 
experiences to her brother : " Since I came here, as at 
home, ' the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.' 
Strangers whom I have never seen have sent flowers 
and strawberries to the £ invalid lady,' The clergy- 
man called, and two of our own ministers, Mr. Samuel 
and Mr. Lord. These frequent changes ordered for 



1857.] VISITS SCARBOROUGH. 321 

me remind me that this is not my rest. I feel I am 
a pilgrim, and recognize my Father's love in the rich 
provision he has made for my comfort daring my 
sojourn upon earth. The friends who have so kindly 
urged upon me their hospitality, and counted it no 
trouble to minister to my numerous wants ; the 
strangers who have contributed to my enjoyment by 
their courtesy, call forth special gratitude to Him who 
has disposed them to act thus to one of the least of 
his family. I can but pray that he may reward them 
a thousand-fold into their own bosoms. We all join 
in love. I often long to see you. Sometimes in the 
long silent night-watches my thoughts wander to the 
land of your adoption, and I feel tempted to ask that 
it may please God we may meet again on earth. 
What a blessedness to know we shall meet where dis- 
tance can never divide us again !" 

Mrs. M. had earnestly desired she should spend 
part of the summer with her, and as both her medical 
advisers believed that the air of Scarborough would 
prove beneficial, feeble as she was, accompanied by 
her sister, she undertook the journey. The fatigue 
of traveling was not oppressive, and the visit, though 
it failed to secure the physical advantages anticipated, 
afforded great enjoyment and spiritual profit. Every 
two or three days, or oftener, a message of some pur- 
port was transmitted to one of her friends at Boston 
Spa. On the 18th she says: "I cannot tell you the 
exquisite satisfaction I feel in finding myself sur 
rounded by so many of the elegancies of life. When 
suffering and weakness have rendered .all exertion a 
burden, the eye may drink in a quiet and most re- 



322 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

fined enjoyment from surrounding forms of beauty. 
I am afraid Mrs. M. will spoil us with kindness and 
luxuries." 

"19th. As we traveled from York to Scarborough 
I repeated the line, ' 1 rest beneath the Almighty's 
shade/ until I felt its power and realized something 
of its sweetness ; and in connection with it, there came 
so beautifully to my heart the assurance, ' He shall 
cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt 
thou trust.' 

" I must try to tell you of the exquisite beauty 
which shone out of a precious promise the other 
morning. You know I had some little perplexities 
for a few days before I left home, but amid them 
this was often given me: 'I will guide thee.' The 
morning after I came here, as I lay musing on the 
way in which I had been led, and looking, perhaps 
wistfully, on the future, the promise came in its com- 
pleteness : - 1 will guide thee with mine eye.' I can 
but very feebly indicate the depth, the force, and the 
beauty which I saw in the figure. To be guided by 
the eye of another implies deep and constant attention 
to the expression of that eye, a knowledge of its elo- 
quent but silent language. That knowledge suggests 
the idea of filial love answering to paternal love. To 
know God we must love him. The child watches 
the expression of its parent's eye. He learns its lan- 
guage sooner than that of the tongue. It is eloquent 
with love, with sympathy, with reproof, with the as- 
surance of protection from danger, and deliverance 
out of difficulty. It indicates the path to some de- 
sired good which seemed inaccessible, or it attracts, 



1857.] RICHNESS OF GOD'S BLESSINGS. 323 

by its magnetic influence, from the alluring snare. 
Thus it guides him. O to be thus guided! Al- 
ways to cherish that spirit of watchful filial love 
which will insure such guidance ! What intimacy it 
implies between Him who guides and them who are 
guided ! How full of mingled instruction and encour- 
agement this promise is ! It is as though it said : 6 1 
see the pathway. I know its snares. Its good and 
evil are mapped out before me — the real and the 
imaginary. I know both, whatever disguise they may 
wear, and I will guide thee, gently and silently, with 
mine eye. No loud shout of alarm shall startle thee 
to a consciousness of danger. Love's own voiceless 
but unerring language shall guide thee.' 

" Evening. Mrs. A., the widow of a minister, has 
been to dinner and tea. She is a woman of great in- 
telligence, highly cultivated mind, and deep piety, 
with a sweet countenance and loving heart. I have 
just been thinking what a richness and fullness there 
is in the blessings God bestows upon his children. I 
see already many spiritual blessings which God de- 
signs me to reap here, but I have been struck with 
this thought : how richly God is blessing my latter 
days with the fellowship of the gifted and the greatly 
good, and how this is preparing me for a heightened 
felicity in heaven ! I shall meet these spirits again. 
Our converse here has been of heaven, and of that 
glorious redemption which is the theme of heaven's 
highest song, and we shall not forget that when we 
meet there." 

23rd. " How my heart swells and my eyes fill when 
I hear our noble national anthem ! But I heard it to- 
21 



324 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

day with a deeper emotion than ever. I thought 
of heaven's national anthem— that glorious burst of 
loyalty and gratitude which will rush from every 
tongue ; i Unto Him that loved us, and washed us 
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be 
glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen.' " 

The gratifying and the ominous come into close 
contact in the communication of the 25th : " I am bet- 
ter in some respects. I have less violent and length- 
ened paroxysms of pain. But I am so weak that 
riding fatigues me very much, and the air swells my 
throat and makes it uncomfortable." 

On the 26th she was called to experience in a man- 
ner very extraordinary the efficacy of prayer, the 
malignity of Satan, and the preciousness of our faith- 
ful and merciful High Priest. " This morning I had 
a most remarkable manifestation of the Divine pres- 
ence, followed by an equally remarkable conflict with 
the tempter. Nothing I ever experienced bears any 
analogy to either of them. As I lay musing on the 
wonderful way in which God had enabled me, in the 
period of my most conscious impotence, to be of 
some use to those around me, I realized a sweet spir- 
itual influence, an ethereal presence overshadowing 
and leaning toward me, while the following language 
was as distinctly communicated as if I had read it in 
a book: 'Jesus is near you. He knows all about 
you — all your sorrows, suffering, and love. He sym- 
pathizes with all. He knows all about you. He is 
very near to you.' The presence departed, but the 
influence remained. I felt no surprise, but my mind 



1857.] SWEET VISITATION. 325 

instantly turned to those incidents of the Saviour's 
life which exhibit his sympathy most strongly — his 
love for the sisters at Bethany — his peculiar regard 
possibly for that one who sat spellbound at his feet 
— his deep anguish at the grave of Lazarus — his ten- 
derness to that repentant sinful one who anointed his 
feet, and many others. "These brought his veritable 
humanity vividly before me. 

" While I was thus occupied Mrs. M. came into 
my room from family worship, and we spoke of 
these and other circumstances in that wondrous life. 
She then told me she had experienced remarkable 
freedom in praying for me at the family altar, and 
especially in desiring that Jesus might be very near 
to me. • I saw you so vividly in my mind's eye,' 
she said, c and I realized so distinctly that presence 
drawing nigh to you that I felt sure my prayer would 
be answered. 5 With tears of wondering gratitude I 
told her of the sweet visitation I had had, and we 
wept and rejoiced together. 

" She then left me, and I began to read the narra- 
tive of the resurrection of Lazarus. Thoughts began 
to be suggested on our conversation respecting 
Christ's human sympathies. Painful feelings arose. 
It was suggested that I had dishonored the divine 
majesty of Christ, that I had distorted Scripture to 
make his glorious nature consonant with my own. 
At first I reasoned against what I conceived to be 
my own thoughts. I had a thorough conviction the 
suggestions were false, that I cherished no Christ- 
dishonoring sentiments, not for a moment. I felt 
that the conversation and the mysterious commune 



326 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

preceding it were a season of gracious visitation from 
on high. But why these thoughts at which my soul 
recoiled? Whence came they] Why did joy and 
peace vanish before them, leaving dark confusion and 
misery in my heart 1 It is the tempter, it was suggested. 
For a moment I felt staggered, crushed, and power- 
less. My first impulse was to review the ground of 
temptation, bat a better one rose instantly, and lift- 
ing up my streaming eyes and clasped hands I cried 
in the bitterness of my anguish : ' Jesus, help ! I am 
powerless in the grasp of this foe. He is too subtle 
for me to encounter. Pardon my forgetfulness of 
thy presence. I saw thee not in the fierceness of the 
conflict, but thou art very near to me. Rebuke the 
tempter.' The prayer was heard. Looking upward 
peace and joy returned. But it was some time be- 
fore I dared to look back on that fierce conflict. I 
dared to look no where but to Jesus. 

" On rising to dress, the inauguration of Christ to 
his ministry, when the voice from heaven proclaimed 
him the 'beloved Son,' sweetly presented itself to 
my mind, while solemnly and impressively the 
words recurred : ' Then was Jesus led up of the 
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the 
devil.' O how my heart rejoiced to know that I 
was thus called to fellowship with Christ in his tempt- 
ations ! How sweetly assured I felt of the identity 
of his nature with my own ! 

* He knows what sore temptations mean, 
For he hath felt the same.' 

My frail system has been greatly shaken by this ter- 
rible conflict. My hand trembled as with palsy. 



1857.] A TERRIFIC STORM. 32f 

u August 5. Yesterday morning I spent an hour or 
two (in bed) very profitably and pleasantly in study- 
ing some favorite passages in the word of God. How 
secure I felt on the promises ! How all-sufficient 
appeared the atonement of Christ ! St. Paul's mag- 
nificent song of bursting triumph, ' Who shall sepa- 
rate us from the love of Christ,' etc., thrilled my 
whole soul. It might have been the song of the con- 
queror just sitting down by the side of his enthroned 
Redeemer, rather than that of the toiling and perse- 
cuted apostle. The hymns beginning, ' Entered the 
holy place above,' and ' Rock of ages,' were pecul- 
iarly sweet." 

During the evening of the 6th a terrific storm 
swept over many parts of Yorkshire and some other 
counties. Scarborough experienced its full share of the 
results, and, excellent as was the condition of the 
house in which Miss Hess el found a delightful home, 
she did not entirely escape the calamity. On the 7th 
she writes : " We had a terrible night here, such a night 
as the oldest inhabitant in Scarborough does not 
remember. Our house is in a state of comfortable (?) 
confusion this morning, every room having suffered 
more or less. Of course I slept none, or next to none. 
The servant had the worst of it, for a waterspout de- 
scended on her bed. Sophia was vigorously em- 
ployed in her room in removing valuables out of the 
way of the intrusive element. I, stunned by the howl of 
the elements, and not liking the streams of water which 
seemed in rather alarming proximity to my bed, got 
up to join Sophia; but I found my dressing table 
pretty copiously sprinkled, and the matches wet, 



328 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA IIESSEL. [1857. 

Unable to strike a light, and not liking to venture an 
ascent to Sophia in the dark, 1 crept back to bed over 
a saturated hearth-rug, and awaited the dawn of 
morning, feeling, as the storm swept piteously on, it 
would be some considerable alleviation to have com- 
panionship. In the morning the kitchen carpets were 
swimming, and other things in a corresponding state 
of cheerfulness. The mischief in the town is fearful. 
Queen-street has hundreds of tons of gravel in it, 
some of which has been forced into the houses. In 
Merehant's-row they are carting away the furniture 
of some of the houses, the foundations are so seri- 
ously injured. On Belmont-terraCe there has been 
a landslip, carrying away the trees, and blocking up 
the wall beneath. The wall of Lord Londesborough's 
garden has been washed down, and covers the road 
down to the sands. At Scawby several cottages 
have been washed clown, and the inmates have but 
just escaped in their night-clothes. All this we 
heard from the doctor, who has been his morning- 
round and witnessed it. He says the amount of 
damage is really awful. 

" Mr. Mather and Miss were here to tea yes- 
terday. The former brought a quantity of original 
letters from John and Charles Wesley, Mrs. Fletcher, 
and Joseph Benson. They were very interesting. 
He was very kind. As soon as he had gone Miss 

came to the foot by my couch, and kissing my 

hand tenderly began a sweet conversation. Dear 
girl, how my heart warmed toward her ! What ter- 
rible discipline she has undergone ! How her eyes 
sparkled, and the tears gushed as I spoke of that 



1857.] HER LAST COMPOSITION. 329 

blessed home of the spirit where sin and sorrow are 
known no more ! To my inquiry, Shall we know 
ourselves when we wake up to that new" and glorious 
life ? she said with manifest joy, ' I sometimes ask 
myself that question, and fancy I hardly shall.' We 
agreed w T e should remember that night*s interview 
when we met in a brighter country — our Father- 
land." 

On Monday, August 10, she and her sister return- 
ed home, "neither of us much better for the change 
physically." 

In the spring of this year she plumed the wing of 
her muse for the last time. It was no bold flight she 
attempted. The absence of loftiness of strain, how- 
ever, is more than compensated, in the estimation of 
her friends, by the satisfaction of witnessing one so 
near the confines of eternity breathing such pure and 
fervent sentiments. Would that all thus circum- 
stanced were possessed of similar aspirations ! She 
designated the composition 

A PRAYER. 

Father in heaven ! my Father ! at thy feet 

I humbly bow, and pray that thou would' st cleanse 

My heart from secret sin — my spirit purge 

Prom the low dross of earthliness, and raise 

To purer heights the drooping pinions which 

Too long have swept the dust, and feebly striven, 

Like a worn captive bird, to soar aloft 

In the bright sunlight, where no galling chain 

May mock its freedom. 

Vainly have I striven, 
Father ! in my own weak strength, to bring 



330 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

Back to thine altar the sore-stricken heart 

Which finds no peace in wandering. Do thou draw 

Its deep affections to thyself, and grant 

They never more may rove. Clear from my eyes 

The mists of earthly love, which all too oft 

Have risen between my soul and the pure light 

Of thy calm glory. May I lean no more 

On earth — seek never more to rest upon 

Its thorny pillows, but with upward gaze 

And fearless trust, lay my weak trembling hand 

In thine, Almighty Father 1 and, sustained 

By thy strong arm, feel thou dost give me rest. 

No more may earthly visions dim the light 

Of heaven's high joys, but may a ray serene, 

From the pure glory of thy throne, shine out 

On life's intricate path, and gild the gloom 

Of death's dark vale. Thus may I safely reach 

My Father's house ! my everlasting home 1 

And, like a weary child, lie down to rest 

Within his folded arms. 



1857.] A TRUE WOMAK. • 331 



CHAPTER XII. 

"Woman's Influence — Hints on the Ideal of a True Woman — An- 
imadversions on the Prevalent Training of Young Women — 
Miss Hessel's increasing Debility — Last Letters to her Friends 
— Self-Keproach — Miss S. E.'s Interviews — Spiritual Experi- 
ences — Death. 

It is one of the gratifying features of our age that the 
subject of woman's position and work is attracting 
general attention. No subject is more worthy. "The 
greatest influence on earth," the Rev. A. Monod justly 
observes, " whether for good or evil, is possessed 
by woman." In the varied relations of daughter, 
sister, teacher, wife, and mother, her influence up- 
on our domestic, social, and national welfare is incal- 
culable. 

What is the ideal of a true woman — a woman who 
sustains her various relationships with thorough 
efficiency'? Fully to answer this question would 
require a volume. A few hints are all we shall 
attempt. 

Her chief sphere, unquestionably, is the domestic 
circle. There to refine and elevate man should be 
one of her principal aims. 

" For contemplation he, and valor formed ; 
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace." 

In this utilitarian age man is in danger of carrying 
" the principles of his ledger into every sphere of his 



332 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

life," of degrading himself into a mere machine for 
doing " a large stroke of business," and u making 
money " rapidly. Let this become an actual state of 
things, and what is the result? Life is divested of 
all joy and worth — a thing barely to be endured ; and 
man is divested of all dignity — transformed into a 
drudge, a slave. A vortex is created in which not 
only happiness, but social progress and national 
stability are ultimately engulfed. 

Now to woman we must look, under God, for no 
small part of that agency by which such a calamity is 
to be averted. She must not only warn against the 
risk incurred, but unfold the grandeur of the object 
sacrificed, and, by her marvelous persuasiveness, al- 
lure and guide. 

Numerous qualifications, however, it will at once 
be seen, are requisite to this. Such influence can be 
exerted by those only who have won esteem, and 
esteem is the daughter of admiration. The woman 
that would sway the mighty invisible scepter to 
which man is proud to bow, must not only possess 
good sense — " she openeth her mouth with wisdom ;" 
amiability of temper — " in her tongue is the law of 
kindness ;" domestic skill and habits — for what avails 
it that a man has "a handsome property," or "a 
thriving business," or a choice circle of friends, if he 
has a comfortless home'? some good degree of intel- 
lectual culture — how else can she be an intelligent 
companion ? — but above all, correct and vivid views of 
the great purpose of life. She can scarcely expect to 
lift those around her to a higher elevation than she 
occupies; to kindle aspirations in other souls with 



1857.] WOMAN'S QUALIFICATIONS. 333 

which her own is not fired. Would she witness the 
gratification of the senses subordinated to the culture 
of the intellect and heart? moral worth estimated at 
a higher value than social position ? a sympathy cul- 
tivated with whatever is true, and noble, and philan- 
thropic? in fine, would she witness in general society 
a full and harmonious development of all the faculties 
of our nature? Then must she herself exemplify 
these virtues. The embodiment of universal excel- 
lence must be her aim. 

It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the mind 
that the character of a woman's influence mainly de- 
pends upon the aspect in which she views the great 
purpose of life. If it be viewed chiefly as a thing for 
enjoyment, the influences most welcomed will be de- 
teriorating. If, on the other hand, it be regarded as 
the preliminary period of an immortal existence, the 
future of which is to be determined by the present ; 
as supplying mental and moral materials, out of 
which we may construct, and ought to construct, a 
noble character, by which society shall be benefited, 
and honor reflected on our benevolent Creator, then 
will the aspirations and purposes cherished be ele- 
vating. 

Now it is Christianity only that furnishes right 
views of life ; and the surrender of the heart to the 
love of Christ alone can insure moral strength for the 
practical embodiment of those views. Where that is 
supreme, duties are not only seen but felt, and a con- 
straint is experienced which impels to their discharge. 
A power of self-control is furnished, and the whole 
character is ennobled and beautified. Well might 



334 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

Solomon thus counsel his son : " Wisdom is the prin- 
cipal thing ; therefore get wisdom : and with all thy 
getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall 
promote thee : she shall bring thee to honor when 
thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head 
an ornament of grace ; a crown of glory shall she de- 
liver to thee." " Had it not been for religion,'' a 
friend remarked to the writer on having read the 
previous edition of this memoir, " Miss Hessel would 
never have been known -beyond a private circle. 
Her powers would have been wasted in frivolous 
pursuits." And the observation is just. Religion 
exalted conscience to its rightful supremacy. Reveal- 
ing the guiltiness of living for mere amusement or the 
gratification of others, and the paltriness of aims con- 
fined to earth, it animated her to purposes harmoniz- 
ing with those of Deity. 

" All aim at present good ; a wiser few 
Look to the future ; but the wise are they 
Who make the future and the present one : 
The future in the present ever felt, 
And with high destiny attain to both." 

A warning note is needed, in the opinion of many, 
on the prevalent training of young women. Let the 
now sainted John Angell James be candidly listened 
to on this subject : " How much in modern education 
is calculated, if not intended, rather to prepare our 
females to dazzle in the circle of fashion and the gay 
party than to shine in the retirement of home. To 
polish the exterior by what are called accomplishments 
seems to be more the object than to give a solid sub- 
stratum of piety, intelligence, good sense, and social 



1857.] TRAINING OF YOUNG WOMEN. 335 

virtue. Never was a subject less understood than 
education. To store the memory with facts, or to 
cultivate the taste for music, singing, drawing, lan- 
guages, and needlework, are the ultimatum with many. 
The use of the intellect in the way of deep reflection, 
sound judgment, accurate discrimination, is not taught 
as it should be ; while the direction of the will, the 
cultivation of the heart, and the formation of the char- 
acter are lamentably neglected. We ask not the 
sacrifice of anything that can add grace and elegance 
and ornament to the feminine character, but we do 
want incorporated with this more of what is masculine 
in knowledge and wisdom." 

In a similar strain writes one no less observant and 
no less worthy to be regarded, John Foster : " How 
much I regret to see so generally abandoned to the 
weeds of vanity that fertile and vigorous space of 
life in which might be planted the oaks and fruit trees 
of enlightened principle and virtuous habit, which, 
growing up, would yield to old age an enjoyment, a 
glory, and a shade." " Fine sensibilities are like 
woodbines, delightful luxuries of beauty to twine 
round a solid, upright stem of understanding ; but 
very poor things if, unsustained by strength, they are 
left to creep along the ground." To be doomed to 
the shade in the social party for the lack of those 
accomplishments which enable others to shine is, no 
doubt, a mortification. To shed a daily luster in the 
domestic circle, however, is an achievement not only 
incomparably nobler but more valued. We admire 
the meteor, but we prize the sun. Sterling worth will 
have the ultimate advantage over display. 



386 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

The biographer advances no claim on behalf of the 
subject of this memoir to perfect womanhood. His 
knowledge of her impressed him with the conviction 
that she was a true woman. And if an aptitude 
equally for household duties and drawing-room refine- 
ments ; if a preference of solid worth to showy accom- 
plishments ; if cultivated tastes, expansive sympathies, 
generous impulses, and lofty aspirations, associated 
with true modesty, freedom from affectation, and 
enlightened conscientiousness ; if, in a word, a purpose 
to live rather for the sake of imparting than of seek- 
ing enjoyment, constitute a true woman, it is believed 
that every unbiased reader will pronounce Eliza 
Hessel to have been such. Who of the youthful 
sisterhood that reads these pages will emulate her 
virtues'? Who will not only covet but resolutely 
strive to b£ robed with her mantle ? Why should 
not I ? let each one ask. 

Let no reader sigh clesponclingly on contemplating 
this ideal. It was not so much by original endowment 
as by wise and diligent self-improvement that Miss 
Hessel acquired and effected what she did. Thousands 
have been as gifted, and had far greater helps, who 
have not risen to nearly the same mental and moral 
elevation. This volume illustrates the capability of 
improvement with w T hich God has endowed us, for it 
consists mainly of the fruits of improvement. If 
only ordinary powers be allotted you, if your power 
of originating thought be feeble and your vocabulary 
meager, remember it is moral rather than mental 
qualities that throw a charm over social life. And 
these are accessible to all. It is strikingly illustrative 



1857.] FOE WHAT AM I LIVING? 337 

of the divine wisdom and goodness that the most im- 
portant qualities are as accessible to the illiterate as 
to the educated. Aspire, therefore, after the highest 
goodness. It is in your power to show that life is a 
blessed gift, and a splendid opportunity for a glorious 
future. Strive benevolently to smooth the path of 
others, to animate them under discouragement, to 
strew fragrant flowers around them. Let them see 
what a noble thing human life may become. Aim to 
fill your sphere wisely and well, to give the utmost 
satisfaction, to diffuse the greatest possible enjoyment. 
Deserve to be valued and commended, whether or not 
you are. Be a real, whether or not an acknowledged, 
benefactor. Propose to yourself a model, and let if 
be no less exalted than that adopted by Miss Hessel. 
Life will then furnish to you matter of unutterable 
and unending joy and praise. 

" Many," says an American writer, " live for what 1 
Ask them. For nothing. Their lives are the sport 
of what is around them. Life to them is a mazy web- 
work of circumstances. They fix no mark at which 
to strike. They run and gain no race. They have 
nothing in particular to be or do, and hence are and 
do nothing in particular." " Would we do good to 
the world % Then let our characters be formed after 
the most perfect pattern within our attainment, for 
character is the most powerful instrumentality within 
, our possession. It is not so showy or noisy as wealth, 
or station, or fame, but it is more grand and vigorous 
in the silent tread of its march among human hearts. 
Power chiefly rests in the things that are least bust- 
ling and noisy. The world looks upon the lightning 



338 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

as it leaps from the cloud upon the tree, and splinters 
it in atoms, as a strong expression of power ; but not 
a tithe so powerful is it as that electrical vigor which in 
silence spreads the earth all over with flowers, and 
fruits, and herbage, and holds in its still grasp the 
worlds that play their game of grandeur in the blue 
sea above us." 

The number and pressure of your domestic duties, 
some of you may think, interpose a barrier to your 
culture. Miss Hessel had her share of these, and 
they were not neglected. " The right discharge of 
my domestic duties," she says in a letter dated Sept. 
10, 1855, " leaves me but little leisure, and I should 
be very unhappy to neglect these for literary pursuits, 
seeing that my highest aim is not to win for myself 
the notice of the public, but to build up a monument 
of usefulness ; to make my life a noble and useful 
one ; to build well ' both the seen and unseen parts.' " 
She wisely sought to convert these duties into aids to 
improvement. " The longer I live," we have seen 
she stated, " the more am I impressed with the hidden 
value of these little things which make up the sum 
of daily life, their adaptation to aid in that process of 
self-education, mental, moral, and religious, which we 
ought to be conducting." 

Let the resolve she elsewhere records be equally 
cherished and exemplified by you, and you shall 
realize ultimate success. " 1 have resolved, by God's 
help, to weave my web of life as best I can out of the 
materials around me." Be content to wait for the 
realization of improvement. All sterling excellence 
is a growth. " Say you that you have not time — not 



1857.] WOMAN'S A NOBLE WORK. 339 

time to think !" exclaims the writer just quoted. 
" How can you help thinking ? Your mind is active, 
ever active. All you have to do is to direct it to 
proper objects, and into proper channels, and it will 
cultivate itself. Whoever forms a resolute de- 
termination to cultivate his mind will find nothing 
in his way. Everything will minister to his prog- 
ress. Teachers will gather round him in num- 
berless hosts. The air will breathe notes of instruc- 
tion, and running brooks give him lessons of wisdom. 
The bee, the worm, the bird, the rock, the cloud, the 
ocean, the heavens above him, will read him lectures 
on science. Light and darkness, heat and cold, every 
thing in nature will gather round him with a voice of 
instruction. We can walk a lifetime amid these things 
and get no instruction ; but as soon as we begin to look 
for it it begins to come. Learn this truth, young man 
and woman : Where there is a will there is a way,'''' 

Young woman, a noble work, a work of almost 
matchless grandeur is assigned you. You may pre- 
vent incalculable evils, personal, domestic, social, and 
national. You may secure incalculable benefits to 
your households and your country. The destinies of 
both are largely in your keeping. Live at the eleva- 
tion whence your privileges, duties, and responsibili- 
ties are clearly seen. Live under the influence which 
their realization will create. Then, not the present 
only, but future generations, shall rise up at the last 
day and call you blessed. 

We have seen what were Miss HessePs sentiments 
and purposes amid the activities of life \ we are now 

22 



340 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

summoned to observe the views and feelings with 
which she could watch the approach of death. 

The hope that summer would pour invigoration into 
her frame was doomed to bitter disappointment, and 
chilling fear as to the issue was acquiring the ascend- 
ant. Obviously increasing weakness permitted no 
alternative. On the 18th of August she writes to 
Mr. F. : "I am trying whether writing with a pencil 
is as hurtful as with a pen. I have regretted deeply 
my inability to maintain my correspondence with 
you and with many other friends. But the day is 
not far distant when the children of the kingdom 
shall sit down together and enjoy personal com- 
munion." 

On the 26th she says to Mr. W d : " Mr. Horn- 
by has just been to see me. I had a delightful con- 
versation with him\ although I could only whisper. 
He seemed to think me near to the waters of Jordan. 
The last few days I have felt the silver cord to be 
gently loosening. I have had a ride w r ith Mr. Heape 
this afternoon. It is very kind of him, for I cannot 
w^alk, and I much enjoy riding now. How beautiful 
this world looked, but the autumn tints are appearing. 

I too felt like the fading leaf, but a voice whispered, 

I I am the resurrection and the life.' " 

To Mrs. W. she says, on the 27th : " My strength 
is very much reduced, my appetite poor, and my 
cough no better. I feel now that I hold life by a 
very slender tenure, and yet He, in whose hands my 
breath is, may see fit to prolong that life for a while for 
purposes which must be wise and good. My visit to 
Scarborough was made a great spiritual blessing to me. 



1857.] STKENGTH FAILING. 341 

I met with some choice spirits, chosen in the furnace 
of affliction, and I found the communion of saints 
precious indeed. I am astonished at the goodness of 
God in the kind friends with whom I everywhere 
meet. I feel so unworthy of the tender loving 
interest which I everywhere find. May God reward 
them ! 

"I thank you for all your tender love and sym- 
pathy. Think of me ever as dwelling beneath the 
shadow of the Almighty, resting on the Rock of Ages, 
feeling the atonement to be so rich and full and all- 
sufficient, realizing Christ to be the power of God, as 
well as the wisdom of God — the former especially, in 
my weakness. In health I loved to contemplate him 
as the wisdom of God, and by and by I shall resume 
that contemplation with nobler powers, and behold 
him face to face." 

Her last communication to the biographer was in 
pencil, about the close of this month. " I am not so 
well as when I last wrote. I have been suffering 
from diarrhea, and a few days ago had a slight 
hemorrhage from the lungs, caused by a sharp, sudden 
cough. It was evening. Mother was alone with me, 
and was greatly alarmed, as the pain in my chest 
caused me to swoon. I begin now to feel my 
strength decrease. Indeed, I may say with David, 
'My days are like a shadow that declineth, and Lam 
withered like grass.' How blessed to be able to say 
also that God is 4 the strength of my heart, and my 
portion forever !' " 

On Sept. 2 she writes to Mr. W 1 : " I should 

like to tell you something of my experience of the 



842 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

power of that religion which I have found so precious 
during my long affliction, but I have not strength. 
Does it not seem strange that enfeebled mental pow- 
ers, shorn vigor of intellect, should be apparently the 
necessary prelude to that glorious awakening of the 
soul to a stronger and higher life ? But with all this 
conscious mental feebleness, how glorious to feel that 
the realization of that nobler life is nearing, that when 
a few more conflicts are over this enfranchised spirit 
shall be introduced to fellowship with Him, ' in whom 
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' 
Until then my spirit rests in firm but lowly trust 
on that great atonement which is the only ground of 
my hope. 

" And now, my friend, farewell ! It is not likely 
that I shall be able to write to you again, but I shall 
be glad to hear from you. My parting prayer for 
you is that you may long live to be a true and faith- 
ful embassador of Jesus Christ; 'giving no offense in 
anything, that the ministry be not blamed ; but in 
all things approving yourself as the minister of 
God .... by pureness, by knowledge, by long- 
suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love 
unfeigned ; by the word of truth, by the power of 
God, by the armor of righteousness on the right 
hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil 
report and good report." 

On the 10th she pens the last lines her much be- 
loved brother was to receive. What a rush of min- 
gled emotion would heave his bosom as he read her 
request to banish sorrow for her! Is not the beauti- 
ful and truthful epitaph she selected engraven on his 



1857.] LAST LETTER TO HER BROTHER. 848 

heart? How sweetly will those lines ring music 
through the chambers of his soul, and those of her 
numerous friends, for long years to come ! 

"Your letter of June 10 came safely to hand on 
the 6th instant, and I once more attempt a reply. It 
is a great effort, but I feel wishful to send you a few 
lines while I am able. I am glad to hear such a 
favorable account of your health and circumstances. 
1 trust you will always have cause to be satisfied with 
the step you Tiave taken. Much as I now feel your 
absence, and often as I long to see you, I feel that 
your present position is best, and this reconciles me 
in a great measure to the separation. 

" 1 have nothing cheering to state respecting my 
health. c My days are like a shadow that declineth, 
and I am withered like grass.' Latterly, the record 
of each day has been the same unvarying tale of 
restless, weary suffering, a constant pain in my side, 
aggravated by my cough, and every change of posi- 
tion. But it is a great mercy that my nights are 
generally pretty good. The doctor does not rec- 
ommend my going from home again. He says I 
shall lose rather than gain by any change at present. 
I have considerable variation of feeling and some 
spiritual conflicts, but underlying all this a deep peace, 
a consciousness that I am going home, that a nobler 
and truer life will soon burst upon me. And while I 
feel this life to be a precious gift, which, were it re- 
stored, I should value far more than I have done, I am 
satisfied that my Father's appointment is best. Some- 
times I have joyful anticipations of the approaching 
realities of the unseen world. Do not think sorrow- 



344 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

fully of me when I am gone. Let this be my epitaph 
in your memory : 

' By the bright waters now thy lot is cast. 

Joy for thee, happy one ! Thy bark hath passed 

The rough sea's foam ; 
Now the long yearnings of thy soul are stilled. 
Home ! home ! thy peace is won, thy heart is filled, 

Thou art gone Home.' 

How precious the word of truth has been to me in 
my affliction ! How rich and full the promises ! How 
all-sufficient the atonement !" 

Early in October the writer proceeded to Boston 
Spa. It was deeply affecting to witness the inroads 
disease had made upon that interesting form. It 
seemed prostration personified. The conviction w T as 
irresistible; the bond of earthly friendship was soon, 
to all appearance, to be sundered. Her debility and 
oppression at the chest debarred conversation on his 
first interview. On the evening of the next day, how- 
ever, she was able to converse with greater ease, and 
her resignation to the divine will, her calm trust in 
the atonement, and her bright hopes of immortality, 
were expressed in a way deeply affecting to him. 
Never shall he forget the peculiar and mingled emo- 
tions with which he heard the tones of that voice 
which seemed to be already heavenly, utter, with a 
countenance radiant with calm joy, difficult as was 
respiration, those blessed portions of Holy Writ: 
" This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this 
mortal must put on immortality. So when this cor- 
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mor- 
tal shall have put on immortality, then shall be 



1857.] THE BIOGRAPHER'S LAST VISIT. 345 

brought to pass the saying that is written : Death is 
swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting ? 
O grave, where is thy victory 1 The sting of death is 
sin ; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks 
be to God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." " For I am persuaded that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
able to separate us from the love of God which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord." It was a scene worth travel- 
ing far to witness, and worthy the pencil of the most 
distinguished artist. 

What but Christianity, it is natural to ask, could 
have supplied such a picture ? Let the skeptic tell us 
it is a delusion. If it can inspire the dying and the 
survivor with such emotions ; if it can thus irradiate 
the gloom of the sepulcher, we may be justified in 
saying : Welcome, thrice welcome to our habitations 
and our hearts. It was only such a life, however, 
that could have furnished such anticipation of death. 

There were many invaluable lessons to be learned 
by the visitor to that sick room. There were instruc- 
tions eloquently mute. But those blanched lips had 
words to utter besides those expressing confidence, and 
joy, and praise. However bright the prospects of 
future blessedness, the intelligent Christian cannot 
suffer the past to be absorbed in the future. Nor can 
the holiest saint review the past without more or less 
of regret and self-reproach. In the light of a near 
eternity Miss Hessel discovered many things which 
awakened such feelings. But there was one she felt 



346 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

constrained to mention. What was it, reader? It 
related to the later period of her life as much as to 
the earlier. Of course it was not a moral obliquity. 
What then was it 1 The writer could not have sup- 
plied the answer previously to her communication. 
He believes that not one of her friends could. It was 
w T hat indicated her knowledge of the magnitude of the 
divine claims, and her profound conviction of their 
righteousness. " The greatest bane of my life," said she, 
with great solemnity, " has been the love of praise." 

There is a praise we may all righteously covet, a 
human praise. That, however, comes as a result, 
rather than a direct object of pursuit. She felt that 
praise had been pursued by her for its own sake as 
food for pride. Some readers will probably regard 
her feeling as purely morbid. Light enough is re- 
flected from the sacred page, however, to satisfy those 
who rightly regard its authority, that error is with 
them rather than with her. While the moralist re- 
gards actions only as matter for personal praise or 
blame, the intelligent Christian regards his motives as 
determining his moral character. These, therefore, 
are the chief subjects of his scrutiny. 

In the future world, if not in this, it will be made 
apparent that to seek human, rather than divine praise, 
is justly to merit divine displeasure. How admoni- 
tory upon this subject is the punishment of Herod, re- 
corded in the Acts of the Apostles ! Miss Hessel's 
feeling arose from a vivid perception of the justice of 
rendering " unto God the things that are God's." 
Would that every reader could be persuaded deeply 
to ponder her impressive utterance ! 



1857.] HEE LAST LETTER. 347 

The afternoon of the following day brought the 
hour ' for parting, and the parting was regarded as 
final. And so it proved, for though she survived 
longer than appeared probable, the writer was pre- 
vented experiencing the melancholy pleasure of an- 
other interview. With surprising calmness she said : 
"It appears to me as if we should soon all meet 
again." 

An instance of the ruling passion strong in death 
exhibits itself in a note to Mr. W d, dated No- 
vember 3 : " You must know that a grand truth 
flashed on my mind yesterday with a force of convic 
tion I never before realized. It was this : That if I 
could write it would stimulate even my enfeebled 
mind to habitual trains of thought both profitable and 
elevating. After closing my hasty note I remembered 
that I meant to say such and such things, and regret- 
ted that I had neither time nor strength. This led me 
to think on themes which made me feel : O that I 
could write down my thoughts ! Writing I have al- 
ways believed to be the best means of drawing out 
the powers of the mind." 

The last product of her pen, it is believed, is a note 
to Miss Harris, who was about to sail for Sydney to 
join her sister, Mrs. William Hessel. It is dated 
November 6 : 

" Until a few days ago I have not had a pen in 
hand for more than two months, and little 'able as I 
am to wield one now without suffering, I feel impelled 
to try. During the summer I have been getting 
weaker and thinner, and am now but the shadow of 



348 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

my former self. About three weeks ago I stood, to 
all human appearance, on the very margin of Jordan. 
It seemed as if just beyond were the gates of the New 
Jerusalem, when suddenly, I believe in answer to the 
prayers of many friends, the distressing symptoms 
abated, and I came back to breast a while longer the 
waves of life. I am much better, and though for the 
most part confined to my room, I do sometimes get 
down for an hour or two, and am carried up again. 
My doctor and my friends think now I shall get 
through the winter, and some anticipate my recovery. 
For myself I leave it with Him who has hitherto 
ordered all things well, and who now encircles me 
with loving-kindness and tender mercy. 

" My best wishes attend you, dear Fanny. I hope 
you wi]l have a pleasant and prosperous voyage. 
May the Eternal God be your refuge, and underneath, 
the everlasting arms." 

So the last record she makes is the utterance of a 
benevolent desire for the welfare of another, 

" Of my own feelings," writes her oldest and dear- 
est friend, " when I first knew the nature of dear 
Eliza's sickness, I must not speak. It was to me a 
sad, a terrible surprise. Shortly after her return from 
Scarborough I spent a few days with her. The Sab- 
bath was a bright, genial September day, so warm 
and balmy that Eliza proposed a short walk. ' Let 
us,' she said, ' once more enjoy together the lovely 
view that has so often charmed us,' She leaned on 
my arm, and i with feeble steps and slow ' we went 
toward the river's side. An angle of the lane soon 



1857.] A SADDENING COLLOQUY. 349 

brought us in sight of the winding Wharfe, with its 
undulating background and border of willows. Her 
heart bounded with delight. ' How beautiful !' she 
exclaimed. ' Ah ! Sarah, we have had many a joyous 
ramble together here. I think we have come in all 
moods, have we not? Every turn of the river, and 
every nook and glade seem somehow associated with 
our friendship. The harmony and beauty of this 
scene have often influenced our heart-corn munings ; 
and we have made high resolves, alas! too often un- 
fulfilled. What a beautiful world this is ! I admire 
it none the less because I am going to leave it. This 
will, I think, be our last walk together.' 

" I said, ' O ! Eliza, I cannot bear to think you 
will not recover. You will be restored to us yet.' 
6 Don't deceive yourself, dear Sarah,' she replied, ' I 
shall not recover, and I want you to think and talk 
about my future as I do. This short respite of suf- 
fering has been kindly given in answer to prayer that 
I may prepare more fully for heaven.' c Is there, 
then,' I asked in deep sorrow, 'no human skill that 
can reach your case. Has God supplied an antidote 
for every ill but this V ' There may be an antidote 
for this also, and science will bring it to light some 
day.' ' Yes,' I said, when those we most love have 
fallen a prey.' ' Well, it must be so. If my heav- 
enly Father sees I can serve him best in my death, 
shall I not cheerfully acquiesce V Seeing the pain it 
caused me she at once changed the subject, talking 
pleasantly and even playfully on passing events, crit- 
icising new books, etc. 

" As we w T ere passing the chapel on our return she 



850 MEMOKIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

withdrew her arm from mine, and leaned upon the 
gate that looks into the adjoining cemetery. ' Is not 
that a peaceful resting-place V she said. ' I have 
chosen my grave there,' pointing to the spot where 
her remains now lie. 4 Our family vault is in the 
churchyard, but I have a wish to be buried among my 
own people — the people with whom I have worked 
and worshiped. 5 ' I think, Eliza,' I said, ' you would 
be almost disappointed if you were to recover.' She 
checked me at once. ' O no, Sarah, don't misunder- 
stand me. If I were this moment to receive an as- 
surance of life and health I should enter into life's 
duties and enjoyments with much more zeal and zest 
than I ever did before. How much better would I 
serve my God ! Yes, I love life, but God calls me to 
give it up, and may I not serve him thus V 

" My next visit found her very feeble. She was 
not able to come down stairs. My last visit was 
/ a few days before her death. Her sister tried to pre- 
pare me for the great change I must observe; but 
when I entered her room the sight of that loved form 
so emaciated, so deathlike, completely overcame me. 
I was unable to speak for grief. < Don't, dear Sarah, 
don't, she said, with a hollow voice, gasping for 
breath. 4 Think of heaven, home, rest— heaven, 
home, rest, 5 and a smile was on her lips, as if the 
thought of these eclipsed all her suffering. I said, 
c O ! Eliza, this is a sad blow to me ; I felt as if you 
were promised to us until spring,' 6 You surely 
would not detain me so long/ she replied, Q It is 
very selfish, I know, but you must forgive me,' I 
rejoined, ' The loss will be mine, not yours,' ' But,' 



1857.] CONSOLATIONS OF THE GOSPEL. 351 

added she earnestly, ' you must not think our friend- 
ship ends here. It will only be suspended for a while 
to be consummated in heaven.' 

" The effort to talk exhausted her and brought on 
coughing. She expressed a hope that in the evening 
she would be able to converse. Evening brought 
with it, however, such a sensation of drowsiness that 
she could say but little. Next morning she sent for 
me early, and we had much conversation. She spoke 
earnestly of the consolations of the Gospel, of the 
fullness of grace in Christ, and of the joys of heaven. 
She repeated those verses entitled 'Libera nos, Dom- 
ine,' (we had learned them together) written on those 
sublime petitions of the Litany : 

' In all time of our tribulation ; in all time of our 
wealth ; in the hour of death, and in the day of judg- 
ment, Good Lord, deliver us? 

On this verse, substituting the singular for the plural 
pronoun in the ninth and eleventh lines, she particu- 
larly dwelt : 

' But there's a tide remains at last 
To pass when all the rest are passed, 
And deep to deep proclaims afar 
That death's dark billows mighty are. 
Yet Thou, who mightier art to save, 
Did'st cross that Jordan's parted wave, 
And bear into the land of rest 
The graven jewels on thy breast. 
Where thou hast trod I too would go, 
For there no floods can overflow. 
With me in the waters be, 

Libera nos, Domine. 

" On leaving her I said : ' Shall I, may I come and 
see you again, Eliza?' ; I think not, love,' she re- 



352 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1857. 

plied. ' My times are in His hand. If I should 
rally once more I will send for you ; if not, remem- 
ber we meet in heaven.' " 

A few incidents of her closing days have been 
communicated by one of the most intimate of her 
friends. 

Early in December she wished to write to her 
brother once more a solemn, sad farewell. But it 
was a vain effort. The willing hand that had penned 
so many thrilling, loving thoughts was too tremulous. 
The pen she had wielded so well must be laid aside 
forever. On reading the letter about to be sent, in 
which, of course, her sufferings formed a prominent 
topic, she said : " Ah ! how different a letter I should 
have written ! Mine would have been a psalm of 
thanksgiving for my mercies." 

Thus did she ripen for heaven. Her views on the 
importance of love to the person of Christ acquired 
an unwonted definiteness. She often spoke of the 
indwelling love of Christ, and the deep, soul-stirring 
expression of it in John's Gospel yielded her unfailing 
delight. She had, however, seasons of gloom ; her 
suffering seemed to darken, occasionally, her spir- 
itual vision. But the gloom was never more than 
a passing cloud. Usually she enjoyed bright sun- 
shine. 

The tedium of confinement was at first a se- 
vere trial to her ever active spirit. She would some- 
times say, in reply to sympathizing inquiries : 
"I feel the toilsome journey's length," adding the 
prayer : 



1857.] A RICH SOLACE. 353 

" Jesus, my Saviour, look on me ! 
For I am weary and opprest. 
I came to cast my soul on thee ; 
Thou art my rest. 

" Look down on me for I am weak ; 
I feel the toilsome journey's length ; 
Thine aid omnipotent I seek, 
Thou art my strength." 

The whole of this beautiful hymn was often repeat- 
ed by her, and proved a rich solace. The two follow- 
ing verses admirably expressed her experience : 

" Vain is all human help for me, 
I dare not trust an earthly prop ; 
My sole reliance is on thee : 
Thou art my hope. 

" Thou wilt my every want supply 
E'en to the end, whate'er befall ; 
Through life, in % death, eternally, 
Thou art my All." 

The view she had long cherished of heaven as a 
home became now more than ever sweet. The joy 
she anticipated was not sensuous ; it was such as 
springs from a fuller knowledge and a keener appre- 
ciation of the grandeur of truth and the beauty of 
holiness. 

Conscious of daily increasing weakness, she ex- 
pressed a wish to partake once more of the memo- 
rials of our Lord's death, A few relatives and 
friends joined her in communion. The thought that 
to one it was indeed a last participation gave a pro- 
found solemnity to the service. Never will it be for- 
gotten by those present. 

Her sympathies still went forth toward all suffer- 



354 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [1858. 

ers. On Christmas-day, when the usual festive fare 
was placed before her, she said playfully to her 
mother : " If you wish me to enjoy my Christmas- 
dinner you must let me share it with and ," 

naming two poor persons who were invalids, " for 
they have no one to provide nice things for them." 
Their dinners were accordingly sent. 

Severe as were her sufferings she seldom dwelt 
upon them. At first a paroxysm of pain would prompt 
the inquiry : " Why is this necessary ?" But after- 
ward, when a friend, in great distress at witnessing 
her suffering, asked : " Why is this permitted ?" she 
quickly answered : " Ah ! there is a needs-be for it 
all. There is a hidden reason which I shall soon 
know. And this I know already, that my heavenly 
Father will not afflict me more than he will give me 
grace to bear." She then spoke of fellowship with 
Christ in suffering, until her cough obliged her to 
cease. 

Shortly after this her Sabbath scholars, having ex- 
pressed a desire to see her, were admitted to her 
room. While their young hearts throbbed with sor- 
row, she spoke to them calmly and earnestly of her 
loving Saviour, whom she urged them all to find. 

Early in January she said to one who had loved 
her long and well : " All my wishes are now fulfilled. 
I wished to live over the New- Year's tea-meeting, be- 
cause my death would have cast a gloom over the 
rejoicings. I desired also to receive one more letter 
from William. The Australian mail has arrived, 
and here is my brother's letter. How kind my 
heavenly Father is !" 



1858.] NO FEAR OF DEATH. 355 

It was a great comfort that she had friends con- 
stantly near whose kindness was unceasing, and who 
deemed it a privilege to minister to her. Thus, when 
no longer able to read, precious books were read to 
her, and daily was she favored with Christian com- 
munion. Newman Hall's "Mind and Words of 
Jesus " was a constant source of comfort. After her 
daily portion had been read, she would say, pointing 
to her Bible : " Now 9 want some drops from the 
fountain. How precious are the words of Jesus ! I 
never saw their full meaning as I do now." 

About the middle of the month she suffered acutely 
from internal local inflammation, during which she 
was unable to lie down for twenty-four hours. " This 
must be death," she said, and then inquired how long 
it would be ere mortification would ensue, and death 
result. After a pause she added : " The nearer it 
comes the less fear I have." Toward the close of 
this period she said to her affectionate sister : " I 
thought more was being laid upon me than I could 
bear, and that God had forgotten his child. But it 
was only a momentary thought." She was scarcely 
able to converse, but the uplifted eye and the expres- 
sion of entreaty on her countenance indicated the se- 
verity of the struggle. 

On the 22d she remarked to a friend : " Since 
the disease has changed, and my weakness increased 
so greatly, I have felt little shrinking from death; 
but no desire to die that I might escape suffering. I 
am in the Lord's hands. He will come in his own 
good time." 

The day following she was too feeble to converse, 
23 



356 MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL. [185&. 

and seemed to be patiently waiting for her summons. 
The next day was the Sabbath. An evident change 
had passed over her, and she again thought her re- 
lease at hand. Her mother, who had watched over 
her with a mother's love, was by her side. Throw- 
ing her arms around her neck, she exultingly ex- 
claimed : " Mother, I am going, I am going home ! 
Glory! Glory!" 

During the day she suffered much from oppression. 
The evening brought relief, however, and with it re- 
freshing sleep. When asked if she had been delivered 
from fear, she replied :• "Yes, from all fear of death;" 
and referring to her feelings in the morning, at the 
prospect of its near approach, added : "I enjoyed 
such a sweet sense of going home for some time." 

Her utterances now became fewer and feebler, but 
they attested her steadfast hope and unwavering 
trust. 

On Wednesday the 27th she entered the dark val- 
ley, but not alone. While precious promises were 
being repeated, she joined : u When thou passest 
through the waters I will be with thee; and when 
the 23d Psalm was read, she said with deep feeling : 
" He is with me." Seeing her mother weep, she said 
in a tone of deep affection, " Mother, don't cry ; I am 
going home." 

Sorrowful watchers bent over her couch that night. 
The busy world heeded not that an angel had come 
down to bear away in triumph a glorious redeemed 
spirit to the bosom of its God. But so it was. The 
night wore on, and for a time she slept. The inspired 
description of the New Jerusalem had been read to 



1858.1 DEATH. 357 

her, and on awaking her mother said: "The pearly 
gates will soon be open." " They are open, mother," 
she earnestly replied, and again she slept. 

Thus did life ebb out. It was well-nigh gone, when, 
with great distinctness, she said slowdy : c ' Salvation 
is by faith." It was her dying testimony to the doc- 
trine that had sustained and blessed her — her watch- 
word at the gate of heaven. A period of unconscious- 
ness ensued. Then one bright momentary gleam as 
the invisible was revealed, and the spirit fled. 

"Her's was another morn from ours." 



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